Vic cold case killer faces plea hearing

A man found guilty of the 1983 murder of a teenage girl in country Victoria will return to court for a plea hearing.

Stephen James Bradley, 53, was found guilty in October by a Victorian Supreme Court jury of murdering Michelle Buckingham, 16.

Ms Buckingham was last seen walking towards her home after leaving the Victoria Hotel in Shepparton about 8.30pm on October 21, 1983, the day police allege Bradley murdered her.

Her body was found on November 7, 1983, in long grass beside Violet Town Road in Kialla East, with multiple stab wounds to her back and chest.

Bradley, a former dog groomer, was arrested at a boarding house in Brisbane in March last year.

The plea hearing will take place in Shepparton on Friday.