Karen Sweeney, AAP
Former Caroline Springs airline pilot Greg Lynn has been ordered to stand trial for the murders of campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay at a remote campsite in Victoria’s alpine region.
Lynn replied “not guilty Your Honour“ when asked by magistrate Brett Sonnet on Wednesday 25 January how he pleaded to the two charges of murder.
The order that he stand trial follows days of evidence about covert recordings, blood spatter analysis, phone data and a secret but potentially explosive police interview.
Lynn was charged in November 2021 with murdering the campers, whose missing persons case became one of Australia’s most high-profile crime stories in March 2020.
It’s alleged Lynn, 56, killed the couple on March 20 that year, while they all camped in the remote Wonnangatta area of Victoria’s alpine region.
How he allegedly killed them or what the motive was have not been revealed in a hearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court where prosecutors and Lynn’s defence team have tested the e vidence against him.
Lead investigator, Detective Sergeant Brett Florence was the final witness in a committal hearing on Wednesday afternoon.
He revealed there was at least one other person of interest when Lynn was first spoken to by police in mid-2020.
Det Florence said officers had concerns about Lynn’s mental health on the morning of his arrest, at a campsite at Arbuckle Junction in the high plains, but rejected a suggestion by Lynn’s barrister, Dermot Dann KC, that the pilot had been at “mental breaking point“.
The officer also admitted that despite those concerns early in the day they did not seek a physical or mental health examination of Lynn after his arrest.
Following Lynn’s arrest he was formally interviewed by Det Florence and another officer over four days.
Details of what was said during that interview, as well as in a conversation with police on July 14, 2020 and a formal statement he made that day have been suppressed after a successful application by Mr Dann.
He said the contents of those pieces of evidence could be viewed as potentially explosive and argued they posed a real and substantial risk of prejudice to the administration of justice.
Among the details aired over a four-day committal hearing were allegations Lynn killed Mr Hill and Ms Clay – childhood sweethearts who reunited later in life – sometime after 6pm on March 20 at their Bucks Camp campsite.
In a summary of some of the evidence, police claimed the circumstances of the couple’s deaths and Lynn’s behaviour afterwards were consistent with him having intended to kill them, or at least cause really serious injury.
It’s alleged Lynn contaminated and staged the crime scene – setting fire to the camp to intentionally destroy evidence.
He’s also accused of removing evidence and disposing of the couple’s remains, involving burning, dispersing and partially interring them at a separate location near Dargo in May 2020 and/or November 2020.
Listening devi ces were installed in Lynn’s Caroline Springs home and car, and he was allegedly recorded having conversations with himself about the deaths of Mr Hill and Ms Clay.
Lynn was formally charged with murder on November 25, 2021. The couple’s remains were located four days later.
He has not applied for bail and will remain in custody until a directions hearing in the Victorian Supreme Court in March.
