Lynn’s account of campsite deaths is ‘complete fiction’, prosecutor tells jury

Gregory Lynn’s explanation for how two people died at a remote campsite has been described by the lead prosecutor in his murder trial as having a strong resemblance to a collection of children’s books.

“A series of very unfortunate events, like the book series of that name – it is also complete fiction,” prosecutor Daniel Porceddu said.

Former airline pilot Gregory Lynn is on trial over the alleged murders of Carol Clay and Russell Hill.Credit: Monique Westermann

“You should readily reject it beyond reasonable doubt,” he told a Supreme Court jury.

On Tuesday, the prosecution and defence teams made closing addresses to jurors in Lynn’s trial.

The defence has labelled the prosecution case as featuring a series of desperate and ill-fated tactical manoeuvres that at times broke the rules of fairness to a man who says he is innocent.

The prosecution has told jurors they should reject the accused former pilot’s claims that the deaths of Russell Hill and Carol Clay at Bucks Camp in the Wonnangatta Valley, on March 20, 2020, were accidental.

It alleges Lynn, 57, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, killed the pair with murderous intent, probably after a dispute over Hill’s drone.

Lynn says Clay, 73, died when he and Hill struggled over a shotgun and it fired, and that Hill, 74, died during a subsequent struggle over a kitchen knife.

Porceddu told the court on Tuesday that while prosecutors did not have a motive for the two alleged murders, they believed Hill was killed first and Lynn immediately embarked on an elaborate plan to “obliterate any evidence” that would support that.

“It is common sense to assume there must’ve been a disagreement over events at the campsite,” he said.

“The prosecution alleges Mr Hill was killed first in part because Clay would’ve been unlikely to pose a threat to Lynn, other than being a witness to what they allege was Hill being killed first.

“She was eliminated because she was a witness.”

In the aftermath of the deaths, the Crown says, Lynn began an elaborate, calculated, protracted series of actions to disguise the manner of deaths and any involvement he had in the scene, including obliterating forensic evidence.

Porceddu said Lynn also failed to call for help, cleaned and burnt Bucks Camp, staged the scene to look like a robbery, took cash from Hill’s wallet, took phones and a drone, and left. He later returned to the bodies and eventually set fire to them in November 2021.

So extreme was the conduct of burning the bodies, Porceddu said, it could only have been done following a murder.

“If they [the deaths] were accidental or unintentional, why would you go to the extreme and extraordinary step of burning the bodies of Mr Hill and Mrs Clay? Incinerating their remains, is so disproportionate to … accidental killings.”

Porceddu said there were several other reasons why Lynn’s version of events could not be true.

These included claims that Hill was “rooting around” Lynn’s car in the dark to retrieve a Barathrum Arms shotgun, not the Ruger American rifle Lynn told police he was filmed by Hill’s drone using close to the camp. Lynn told police he was alerted to Hill’s searching when the older man knocked over a drink bottle in the car while music was allegedly blaring from the four-wheel-drive.

The alleged murder weapon.

“If you’re going to confiscate a gun from someone you’re not on the best terms with ... to eventually report to police … don’t you think you’d make sure he wasn’t left with another gun?” Porceddu said.

Lynn’s explanation that Hill fired warning shots into the air as Lynn ran to take cover by Hill’s Toyota LandCruiser ute before they struggled over the weapon was also flawed, Porceddu said.

The prosecutor said there was a guy rope attached to the bull bar of the LandCruiser that would have been in his way.

Porceddu said Lynn also repeatedly switched between Hill having Lynn’s rifle and shotgun during his police interview and his evidence in the witness box.

Russell Hill’s Toyota LandCruiser ute with a guy rope attached between it and a toilet tent.

“At certain points, the accused, a man you might think is very careful and methodical, falls down on the detail,” Porceddu told the jury.

“Quite simply, the rope ruins the whole account. We urge you to see the accused’s account for what it is, a carefully constructed fiction developed over one year and eight months.”

Porceddu said the onus of proof remained on the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Lynn murdered Hill and Clay.

But he said it was entirely up to the jury to reject Lynn’s version of events.

“According to the accused, this unfortunate series of events is said to start with one thing – Mr Hill being hostile towards him because he was a deer hunter. He concocts a version of events that puts Mr Hill as aggressor and him as the victim in a campsite spat,” Porceddu said.

“On the accused’s account, over a space of ... 24 hours, Mr Hill seemingly goes from cordial to homicidal rage.”

On Tuesday afternoon, defence barrister Dermot Dann, KC, began his closing address to the jury.

Dann outlined he would take the jury through 17 “lowlights” of the prosecution case that the defence team took issue with.

These included a failure to adduce any evidence of Hill’s involvement with firearms, Hill’s mental health and the death of a family member in an accidental hunting incident in 1995.

Dann also pointed to issues with prosecution evidence including “half-baked theories” he said included a witness speaking about the “vacuum theory” – regarding blood being drawn back into the barrel of a gun – and reconstruction testing by police.

The defence barrister said he recognised that over the past four weeks the jury had been confronted with the sad reality that two people had lost their lives.

However, he said, Lynn was presumed to be innocent, and told jurors they were looking at an innocent man.

”First thing you’ve seen happening over the last four weeks is a prosecution case that has bumbled and stumbled its way out of the problematic category it started in, to the unequivocally mistakenly category of hopeless,” Dann said.

“A series of incredibly desperate and ill-fated tactical manoeuvres by the prosecution culminating in the final address today, that was so desperate it broke it time and time again – the well-established rule in this court, the rules of fairness.”

Dann will continue his closing address on Wednesday.

A new podcast from 9News, The Age and 9Podcasts will follow the court case as it unfolds. The Missing Campers Trial is the first podcast to follow a jury trial in real time in Victoria. It’s presented by Nine reporter Penelope Liersch and Age reporter Erin Pearson.