Girls star Dunham's praise for Jill husband

The creator of the massive TV show Girls had read the words of Tom Meagher, whose wife Jill (29), from Drogheda, was abducted, raped and murdered in Australia in September 2012.

Tom had written the moving piece about when he heard Jill's killer, Adrian Bayley, speak for the first time.

"I had come face to face with him before in court, but vocally, I never heard him manage more than a monosyllabic mumble into his chest. It was chilling," Tom wrote.

"I had formed an image that this man was not human, that he existed as a singular force of pure evil who somehow emerged from the ether," he added.

His online essay was posted on the male-led anti-violence group White Ribbon's website, for which he is now an ambassador.

The essay received 20,000 likes and was picked up by Lena Dunham, who commented: "I f***ing love men, I want to be in dialogue with men. And Tom Meagher used his wife's unspeakable death to create dialogue, so bless the f*** out of him."

Adrian Bayley is now serving life behind bars.

hnews@herald.ie