MELBOURNE (AP) - A serial sex offender has been sentenced to life in prison for a rape and murder that outraged Australia's second-largest city.

The violent death of Jill Meagher as she walked home from a bar last September shocked the city of Melbourne.

A week later, 30,000 people took to the streets near the laneway where she was strangled to rally against violence toward women.

The 29-year-old Ms Meagher was born in the Irish port city of Drogheda and had immigrated.

Adrian Ernest Bayley was sentenced in the Victoria state Supreme Court on Wednesday to life imprisonment. He had pleaded guilty to rape and murder.

The 41-year-old cannot be considered for parole for 35 years.

He had served eight years for raping five women but was on parole when he killed Ms Meagher.