Former pilot accused of killing campers in Victoria, trial enters final days

Greg Lynn was charged with murdering Hill and Clay. Photo / Supplied

Accused camper killer Greg Lynn’s legal team will close their case as the double murder trial enters its final days.

The former airline pilot, 57, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder over the deaths of Russell Hill and Carol Clay in a remote part of Victoria’s alpine region in March 2020.

As the Supreme Court jury trial enters week five, prosecutors summed up their case against Lynn on Tuesday.

Lynn has admitted burning the couple’s bodies and setting fire to the crime scene, but claimed the deaths were accidental.

Carol Clay and Russell Hill.

However, prosecutor Daniel Porceddu told the jury Lynn’s story was a “fanciful” work of fiction that deliberately pinned Hill as the aggressor.

He described Lynn’s police interview, and evidence to the jury last week, as a made-up “series of unfortunate events”.

“Like a book series of that name, it is a complete fiction,” he told the jury yesterday.

“You can and should reject it beyond reasonable doubt.”

Porceddu claimed Lynn had been “reciting a script” that he had one year and eight months to come up with, as police did not arrest him over the deaths until November 2021.

Defence barrister Dermot Dann KC attacked the prosecution’s case as “a shambles from start to finish” when he began his closing submissions on Tuesday afternoon.

“What we have here is a prosecution case that’s just unravelling. It’s a pretty disgraceful spectacle,” he said.

The search area for the bodies of Russell Hill and Carol Clay in Wonnangatta. Photo / Victoria Police

He said Porceddu’s closing address was “so desperate” it broke the court’s rules for fairness during a trial.

Dann is due to continue his closing arguments today.

Justice Michael Croucher will then outline details of the charges to the jury, before they are sent away to deliberate on a verdict.