Campers’ ‘fun in bed’ before deaths

WARNING: Confronting details

Sitting in an interview room with two detectives, accused double murderer Greg Lynn told police he thought the pair were “trying to have fun in bed” before the fatal incident, a jury has been told.

Mr Lynn, 57, is facing trial in Victoria’s Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to the murders of Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, in March 2020.

Prosecutors alleged he killed the pair “without lawful justification”, likely following an argument with Mr Hill over his drone, while the former pilot has asked the jury to find both died accidental deaths.

The trial resumed on Tuesday as the jury was shown the remaining two hours of Mr Lynn’s interview.

Shortly before 6pm on November 25, 2021, he was informed that he would be charged with Mr Hill and Mr Clay’s murder and asked if there was something he’d like to say to that, according to the recording.

“I’m innocent of murder. I haven't behaved well, I’ve made some poor decisions but murder, as I understand it, I’m innocent,” he said.

Mr Lynn believed couple were in bed before fatal incident, jury hears

Wearing a grey jumper and face mask, the former pilot twirled a pen in his hands as he answered questions from two missing persons squad detectives.

In the footage, taken after his arrest, Mr Lynn told the officer he was not focused on what they were wearing, but believed both were in pyjamas and barefoot when the incident unfolded.

“He’s trying to have fun in bed... I think he didn’t like I was playing music loud and he lost his temper,” he said.

He told the detectives he burned his clothes while destroying evidence at the campsite before he left because they were covered in blood.

In the recording, he said he changed into a new pair, but believed he burned them at a second camp the following day after dumping their bodies.

“I think I actually burnt those as well where I stayed. I can’t be sure of that, I’m not sure,” he said.

He told the detectives he had bruises on his back after the scuffle with Mr Hill but wasn’t sure if his wife, Melanie, noticed when he returned.

“When I came back from that one the whole world was falling apart,” he said.
“I spoke to her on the Saturday, she said the whole country is going into a lockdown ... can’t buy toilet paper, can’t by cleaning stuff.

“She didn’t ask anything about my trip.”

Wild dog visited bodies: Lynn

In the interview, Mr Lynn said he returned to burn the bodies after a lockdown ended in November 2020.

He told the officers that he lifted a few branches to confirm they were still there before using about two litres of kerosene to ignite the fire.

“Yes, it was my intention to get rid of the evidence because I clearly had failed to make myself disappear,” he said.

“I didn’t want to have to do it. It was a horrific thing, I was sick several times.”

He said Mrs Clay was “largely” missing her head due to the shotgun blast, and it appeared a wild dog or fox had visited in the months prior, according to the recording.

“It was gruesome,” he said.
“There had been activity from a wild dog, so if something was taken away and you find it later I wouldn’t be surprised.”

In the recording, Mr Lynn said he had “contingency plans” to dump any large bones in a river, but by the time the fire burned out about sunrise there was “nothing left”.

“I was really surprised,” he said.

“I did add a few sticks along the way (but) there was nothing there at the end. Nothing bigger than 20mm long.”

Campsite, couple burned as last ‘hope’ for normal life

In the recording, Mr Lynn referenced his profession, saying as a pilot he was used to making “quick decisions to come to the best outcome”.

“At the time I could see all options were bad and trying to cover it up might offer a glimmer of hope to have a normal life, but it hasn’t panned out that way,” he said.

He told the detectives that he’d reached a “really happy place” in his life and reporting the deaths would bring “disaster”.

“The object was not to make them disappear but for me to disappear,” he said.

“It might have taken 10 minutes to explain to you, but really it takes seconds. It wasn’t a long process.”

The jury heard he set himself a list of tasks and set about carrying them out, including setting fire to the scene and disposing of the bodies.

“Then you knocked on my door and I realised it was unravelling,” he told Detective Sergeant Brett Florence in the recording.

Earlier in the recording Mr Lynn said Sergeant Florence had knocked on his door on July 14, 2020.

“I thought, ‘Well this plan is not working. I haven’t been able to disappear, so I have to make any remaining evidence disappear’,” he said.

Mr Lynn told the officers that he then formed the plan to return to the bodies and destroy them.

“At that point I realised I had to go back and I had to wait for lockdown to finish and wait for the roads to be cleared of snow,” he said.

Mr Lynn took campers’ cash for fuel

In the recording, the jury heard, the accused man was questioned if he took any items from Mr Hill and Mrs Clay’s wallets.

“There was some cash and I took that and used it to buy fuel,” he said.

“I didn’t need the money, I wanted to pay cash to avoid leaving a trace.”

In the interview, Sergeant Florence said he would need to pause as he wanted to go to the site Mr Lynn had nominated as the couple’s final resting place.

Mr Lynn responded; “I’m not going anywhere”, before asking if he could speak to his wife, Melanie.

On Monday afternoon, jurors were sent home shortly after 3.00pm after they were told the remaining two hours of the interview were not ready to be played.

“You’ll notice at points there’s blips or editing, that’s a standard thing that occurs at trials,” Justice Michael Croucher said.

“That editing process is still going on at the moment and won’t be finished until tomorrow morning.”

On Monday, footage of the interview was played in which Mr Lynn said he was already camping at Bucks Camp in the Wonnangatta Valley where Mr Hill and Mrs Clay arrived in the afternoon of March 19, 2020.

He said the pair seemed “nice at first”, and they told him they were also planning to camp at the spot.

“I said: ‘There’s hundreds of other campsites but if you want to camp here, it’s a free country’,” he told two detectives in the recording.

Mr Lynn said their initially cordial interactions changed in the evening of March 20 when Mr Hill accused him of hunting too close to camp and threatened to go to the police.

In the interview, he claimed Mr Hill pinched a shotgun from his car about 9pm or 10pm, leading the two men to fight over control of the gun.

“I told him to let it go, he wouldn’t. We just kept wrestling and then bang,” he said.

On Mr Lynn’s account, the gun discharged, killing Mrs Clay, with Mr Hill advancing on him with a knife shortly after.

The two men wrestled before Mr Hill fell on the knife and died, Mr Lynn claimed.

He told the two officers he made a poor decision to cover up the incident, burning their camp and hiding their bodies in bushland at a second location.

“I just guess that, um, in my attempt to hide it I thought I might be able to move on and continue with my life, my family and my career,” he said.

At the start of the trial, Mr Lynn’s barrister Dermot Dann KC told the jury that there was no dispute between the prosecution and defence that on Mr Lynn’s account he was not guilty of both murders or the alternative charge of manslaughter.

“As a matter of law, the prosecution will have to disprove his account,” he said.

“The prosecution will have to disprove that beyond reasonable doubt.”

The trial continues.