Murdered Jill’s husband returns to make a difference

THE husband of murdered Irish woman Jill Meagher returned to Ireland recently after he was awarded a place on Vodafone Ireland Foundation’s World of Difference programme.

Tom Meagher, who is originally from Clonskeagh, will continue his work with the White Ribbon Campaign, which is run by the Men’s Development Network, a male-led initiative to end violence against women and promote gender equality in over 60 countries.

Joining Tom on this year’s programme are Cheryl Gunning, Claire Coughlan and Amy Smyth who will work with Debra Ireland, EPIC (Empowering People In Care) and Future Voices Ireland.

Each of the winners will spend 12 months dedicating their time to supporting their chosen charities in youth work or helping to implement new youth focused campaigns.

The four will work with their charity for one year complete with a full salary paid for by the foundation.

Since his wife was raped and murdered by Adrian Earnest Bayley in September 2012, Tom has devoted himself to speaking out about violence against woman.

Jill, who was originally from Drogheda, Co Louth, was walking home from a night out with work colleagues in Melbourne when she encountered Bayley on the street.

Bayley grabbed her, raped and murdered her before dumping her body at another location.

Bayley, who had a number of prior convictions for sexual assault and violence against women, was jailed for life with no possibility of parole for 35 years. Jill’s murder prompted outrage across Australia. Some 30,000 people took part in a ëpeace march’ and it led to major reforms in the legal system.

Tom has been working with the White Ribbon campaign on a voluntary basis since April.

Now that he has been awarded a place on Vodafone Ireland Foundation’s World of Difference programme 2014/2015, his goal is to bring the White Ribbon programme to second level schools in Ireland.

Since the programme began in 2007, the Vodafone Ireland Foundation has enabled 60 people to answer their true calling and has provided over

?¬1 million to fund their salaries.

Alongside Tom, Cheryl Gunning, Claire Coughlan and Amy Smyth were chosen for their commitment to young people across Ireland.

For the next year they will work on existing and new youth focussed programmes within their chosen charities.