The murder of Irish woman Jill Meagher could have been prevented, according to a coroner in Australia.

Ms Meagher was raped and murdered by Adrian Bayley in Melbourne on September 22, 2012.

The tragic incident occurred while Mr Bayley was on parole from a prison sentence for raping five women as Ms Meagher was walking home after a night out with friends.

Bayley was also on parole pending an appeal of a three-month sentence received after pleading guilty to king-hitting (hitting someone suddenly and hard) a man outside a Geelong pub in 2011.

If Bayley had been charged with the Geelong assault, his parole probably would have been cancelled automatically when he was convicted of that offence.

According to SBS News the rape and murder could have been prevented if Mr Bayley’s parole had been revoked as soon as he breached it.

Coronor Ian Gray said: “Gillian Meagher’s death was preventable.

“A more rigorous, risk averse approach by the Community Correctional Services (CCS) and the Adult Parole Board (APB) would have led to a cancellation of Bayley’s parole.”

Mr Gray went on to say: “The approach taken is difficult to understand… it did not bring dangerous and high risk parolees immediately to account.”

However, the coroner did note that the parole system had been rectified since Ms Meagher’s death.