More than a year after Russell Hill and Carol Clay disappeared from their Victorian campsite, police turned to a news program to get information from the public.
But detectives knew the couple’s accused killer Greg Lynn was one of the viewers of the 60 Minutes episode because they were bugging his home.
A recording of the conversation Lynn and his wife Melanie had during the November 2021 program was not played to the Supreme Court in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Instead, parts of what they said were read to the jury.
The news program showed images of a 4WD and trailer driving along the Great Alpine Road the day after the alleged murders.
Police had put out a request for information on the owner of the vehicle.
Mrs Lynn told her husband the 4WD looked like his Nissan Patrol, prosecutor Daniel Porceddu told the court.
Lynn was then captured on CCTV footage a week later removing an awning from his vehicle at his home in Caroline Springs.
He had already painted the 4WD a lighter beige colour in June 2020, the jury was told.
Lynn is on trial in the Victorian Supreme Court, accused of murdering Mr Hill, 74, and Mrs Clay, 73, on 20 March, 2020.
It’s alleged Lynn killed the couple at Wonnangatta Valley, in the state’s northeast, and then disposed of their bodies in bushland before coming back months later to burn the remains.
Lynn, 57, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder.
His hours-long interview with police was played to the jury on Monday and Tuesday, 3 and 4 June, with Lynn outlining his version of events to detectives.
He told officers Mrs Clay was accidentally shot in the head as he and Mr Hill tussled over his shotgun.
Mr Hill had taken Lynn’s gun and was threatening to show police drone footage of the pilot hunting deer near their campsite, Lynn told the officers.
He claimed after Mrs Clay was shot, Mr Hill came at him with a knife and was stabbed in the chest in the ensuing struggle.
Lynn told police once he realised they were both dead, he used his experience as an airline pilot to formulate a plan to “save” himself.
That included moving the bodies to the remote bushland of the Union Spur track and then going back in November 2020 to burn the remains.
On Wednesday afternoon, 5 June, Lynn’s defence barrister Dermot Dann took the Detective Senior Constable Brett Florence through sections of Lynn’s interview with police.
He outlined what Lynn said and confirmed whether his claims were confirmed as true.
Detective Florence conceded several times that Lynn’s information was correct, including that the canopy of Mr Hill’s LandCruiser had been open at the time of the deaths.
Forensic experts found blood and human tissue inside the canopy after Lynn’s police interview, Detective Florence confirmed.
The trial continues.
