Campers murder trial shown pilot’s gun

The firearm allegedly used to murder camper Carol Clay has been brought into a courtroom, as a police officer described his investigation of the 12-gauge shotgun.

Holding the almost metre-long Barathrum Arms shotgun, leading Senior Constable Paul Griffiths said his handling was a “little awkward” as the firearm was set up for a left-hander.

Loud audible clicks punctuated the packed courtroom, as the officer demonstrated the steps required to load the magazine with five rounds, cock and fire.

Former Jetstar pilot Gregory Stuart Lynn is facing trial in Victoria’s Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to the murders of Russell Hill and Carol Clay in March 2020.

Prosecutors allege the 57-year-old murdered the pair “without lawful justification”, while Mr Lynn is arguing the two deaths were “tragic accidents”.

Mr Lynn’s 12-gauge shotgun shown to jury

On Tuesday, Senor Constable Griffiths told the jury he had matched test shots fired of 2.5 inch solid projectiles from Mr Lynn’s shotgun to a twisted lead fragment found at Bucks Camp.

“It came out with exactly the same shape as the one we recovered from the scene,” he said.

The jury was told the shotgun had been seized from Mr Lynn’s Caroline Springs home shortly after he was arrested on November 22, 2021.

He said the firearm was in “good working order” and did not discharge when he conducted various tests, including a 450mm drop and a hammer strike.

He also noted it had a trigger pull of 3.947kg — higher than the industry standard of 3.6kg — meaning the trigger would have to be pulled slightly harder to fire.

The Barathrum Arms shotgun, the firearms examination expert said, had a pistol grip, adjustable stock, red dot sight and laser pointer attached.

Senior Constable Griffiths told the jury that to fire the shotgun, the user would need to manually load the magazine, rack the firearm and release the safety trigger.

He said it appeared the gun had been set up for a left hander, to which Mr Lynn visibly shook his head.

At the start of the trial, the jury was told Mr Lynn described Ms Clay being accidentally shot as the two men wrestled over his shotgun.

On his account, Mrs Clay was crouching next to Mr Hill’s Toyota LandCruiser and called out; “Russell stop”, before the gun discharged, striking the vehicle’s mirror before hitting her in the head.

Prosecutors allege the Barathrum Arms shotgun was used to murder Mrs Clay after Mr Hill had already been killed by unknown means.

Bullet trajectory testing ‘botched’, defence

Senior Constable Griffiths, the jury was told, had been asked to carry out “trajectory testing” by the lead investigator, Detective Sergeant Brett Florence, in February 2022 to see if an account given by Mr Lynn after his arrest was plausible.

Using string to pass through a drilled hole in a side mirror, the investigator measured whether it was possible for the projectile to have hit Mrs Clay in the head while in a standing, semi-crouched or crouched position.

The jury heard his opinion was it was plausible if Mrs Clay was standing, and unlikely if she was crouched because the “gun would have to be quite high to go through the mirror”.

Under cross-examination from Mr Lynn’s barrister, Dermot Dann KC, Senor Constable Griffiths accepted he had not taken any steps to verify the account given to him.

“I only had limited information, that’s all I had,” he said.

He also confirmed he had “erroneously” written in his report that he’d used Mr Lynn’s shotgun for the trajectory test, now admitting he used a shotgun “out of our library”.

Mr Dann questioned why the Senior Constable had not provided notes, opinions or photographs of the semi-crouched test, suggesting it had been “buried” because it was “spot on” with Mr Lynn’s account.

This was disputed by Senior Constable Griffiths, who said he had given a “maximum and minimum” range of plausible shots based on the very limited information he had.

“I don’t know what Mr Lynn said, but if that's what he said and it’s in line with my results then I concede,” he said.

“There was a lack of physical evidence ... if everything is in situ — that’s our best opportunity to reconstruct the scene.”

Mr Dann also suggested the experiment had been “completely botched”, to which Senior Constable Griffiths said: “I disagree.”

Prosecutors, led by Daniel Porceddu, argue Mr Lynn’s version is not truthful, believing Mr Hill was likely killed first, possibly after a dispute with the accused man.

Mr Porceddu said this was because Mrs Clay was unlikely to have provoked a confrontation or posed any threat to Mr Lynn other than witnessing Mr Hill’s “violent death”.

Mr Hill and Mrs Clay, childhood sweethearts who had rekindled a secret relationship later in life, arrived in the Wonnangatta Valley on March 19 — the day before they were allegedly murdered.

Their disappearance and the discovery of their charred campsite prompted an extensive, and ultimately unsuccessful, search operation in the remote Alpine National Park.

Previously, the jury was told Mr Lynn did not dispute that he took steps to hide their remains, including setting fire to the campsite and dumping their bodies in bushland.

Mr Dann described this as a series of terrible choices made because he feared he would be “wrongly blamed”.

The trial continues.