‘Suffer in hell’: Grandson’s parting words to Gregory Lynn after 32-year camper murder sentence

As convicted killer Gregory Lynn was led away from the courtroom after being handed a 32-year jail term, he muttered to waiting security staff, “alrighty then”.

In his usually calm and unreactive style, 58-year-old Lynn had just spent more than 1½ hours sitting emotionless in the Supreme Court dock as Justice Michael Croucher recounted the details of the former airline pilot’s “very grave” and “callous” crime.

Greg Lynn is led away after being sentenced to 32 years’ prison on Friday.Credit: Justin McManus

Lynn stood only once, staring blankly ahead as an eerily still and quiet courtroom of people took in the full impact of Croucher’s life-altering sentence. Lynn’s legal team said he would be appealing his conviction.

The anger, visceral grief and sheer exhaustion of Clay and Russell Hill’s families was etched on the faces of the more than 25 members who sat in court and summed up by one of Clay’s teenage grandsons, seen plainly telling Lynn to “suffer in hell”.

“Given Mr Lynn’s age at the time of his arrest ... he will be about 79 before becoming eligible to apply for parole, and he will be about 87 when his head sentence expires,” Croucher said.

The sentencing was a rollercoaster, swinging between small wins for Lynn – as when Croucher concluded he could not be sure what Lynn’s motive was for killing Clay – and hammer blows such as the finding his offending against an unarmed and innocent elderly woman was violent and brutal.

Clockwise from left: A sketch of the Bucks Camp site Gregory Lynn drew for police; Gregory Lynn, Carol Clay, and Russell Hill.

On June 25, a jury found Lynn guilty of murdering Clay but not guilty over the death of camping partner Hill, 74, following a five-week trial

Following seven days of deliberations, the jurors rejected Lynn’s claims that Clay died accidentally at a remote campsite in eastern Victoria.

However, the court heard the split verdict provided a quandary for Croucher in how to sentence Lynn in line with the jury’s decision.

Lynn appeared uncomfortable during the hearing, occasionally fiddling with his glasses perched on his nose and attached to a string around the back of his neck.

Friends and family of Carol Clay outside court.Credit: Joe Armao

Croucher said while it was impossible to determine the pair’s cause of death, the discovery of Clay’s DNA at the crime scene was consistent with her being shot in the head.

The judge said while many questions about Lynn’s crime would remain unanswered, he was satisfied a “brusque interaction” between him and Lynn had occurred before Clay’s death, and that he intended to kill the 73-year-old grandmother when he fired at her head.

“It was a violent, brutal, horrific death. There is no suggestion that Mrs Clay posed any threat to Mr Lynn,” Croucher said.

“This was just a terrible thing to do – hence my conclusion that this was a very grave murder.”

Robyn Hill and daughter Debbie Hill arrive at court.Credit: Eddie Jim

He said victim impact statements from Clay’s family and friends expressed the “immeasurable hurt” at her death, the appalling treatment of her body and the distress of not knowing what had happened to her for 20 months.

“No sentence this court could pass would lessen the grief or ease the pain of Mrs Clay’s loved ones,” he said. “The sentence to be imposed is not a measure of Mrs Clay’s life. It can’t be.

“This was a very grave murder.”

Croucher briefly paused his sentencing, and wept while acknowledging the Hill family who were seated only metres away.

Police informant, Sergeant Brett Florence, arrives at court.Credit: Joe Armao

“Mr Hill’s loved ones are left in an excruciating legal limbo,” he said.

“From one person to another, as a matter of common decency, I should acknowledge their plight, their agony, their suffering, and I do.”

Croucher said that in addition to the loss of her life partner, Hill’s wife, Robyn, had “suffered the hurt and humiliation” of having his affair exposed.

He praised her and their daughter for giving evidence in the trial with “immense dignity”.

The comments left Robyn Hill wiping away tears.

Lynn has always maintained both Hill and Clay died in separate accidents minutes apart at the remote Buck’s Camp in the Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020.

He admitted, though, to burning their campsite and staging it to appear like a robbery, bundling the pair’s bodies into a trailer, and hiding them in remote bushland north of Dargo.

Eight months later, Lynn returned to the site, where he burnt the remains and scattered the remaining ash under a nearby tree in an attempt to distance himself from what had occurred.

He was arrested almost a year later, eventually leading police to the location of the 2100 bone fragments that represented all that was left of Hill and Clay, before being charged with murder.

It was later revealed Lynn had gone to extensive efforts to cover up his crime, painting his Nissan Patrol from a dark blue-grey colour to beige, selling the trailer and removing a distinctive awning from the car’s side.

Croucher said Lynn’s cover-up attempts, in particular the destruction of Hill’s and Clay’s bodies, was an aggravating feature of his crime.

On Friday, the court heard Lynn had penned a “contrition letter” to the court, reiterating an apology he gave the Clay and Hill families while giving evidence during his trial.

“I am disappointed and perplexed by the jury verdict, as I have not killed anyone,” he wrote.

“However, I accept that my decision to flee the scene and attempt to disappear, and all of my actions to that effect, were selfish and callous in the extreme.

“For those actions, I am very sorry.

“I understand that due to current community sentiment my apology will likely be rejected by most. With heartfelt regret for my own behaviour, I humbly apologise regardless. I don’t ask for forgiveness; I am simply sorry for what I have done.”

Croucher said it was “natural to look askance at Mr Lynn’s apologies” as he was disputing the jury verdict. However, “having observed him in the flesh”, Croucher said, he accepted Lynn was sorry for the way he had dealt with the remains of Hill and Clay and the delay in them being found.

Croucher said Lynn had reasonable prospects of rehabilitation and no relevant criminal history, and his time in custody would be burdensome, having already been assaulted and forced into protection.

He said Lynn had also felt deeply the impact the crime had on his own family, who now faced the prospect of losing their home.

In his final remark before leaving the bench, Croucher said: “To the families of both deceased, I say I am terribly sorry for your loss.”

Lynn has 28 days to lodge an appeal, and 24 years to think about the night that changed three families.

A new podcast from 9News, The Age and 9Podcasts follows 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.