Accused High Country killer Greg Lynn faces crucial hearing

The High Country campers killings gripped Victoria and now crucial details are about to be revealed as accused murderer Greg Lynn faces court.

A crucial court hearing starting Monday will decide whether accused High Country killer Greg Lynn goes to trial.

A committal hearing will begin at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court to determine if there is enough evidence to put Mr Lynn before a jury over the murders of Russell Hill and Carol Clay.

The former Jetstar pilot, 55, will not have to take the stand during those proceedings.

Mr Lynn has been on remand since November 2021, when he was arrested in remote bush country in the Licola area of East Gippsland.

Much of this time, his first period in custody, has been spent separated from other prisoners because of the risk to his safety.

The Hill-Clay case gripped Victorians for the best part of two years after they disappeared on a trip to the Wonnangatta Valley, 350km northeast of Melbourne, in March, 2020.

Greg Lynn has been on remand since November 2021.

Mr Lynn with his wife Melanie in November 2020.

Their partly incinerated campsite was at the centre of a massive missing persons squad investigation which involved major searches and attempts to locate every person who had been in the area at the time of the disappearances.

Details of how Mr Lynn is alleged to have crossed paths with Mr Hill and Mrs Clay and how they died have not yet been made public.

The committal is listed for four days but is likely to extend beyond that with the prosecution telling an earlier hearing that ballistics expert Paul Griffiths would not be available on those dates.

Mr Lynn’s lawyer Dermot Dann, KC, said Mr Griffiths was “an important witness” who would deal with “the bullet trajectory”, suggesting for the first time the possible method of one or both of the alleged killings.

“We might need to deal with the other witnesses, and then assign another day for him,” Mr Dann said at the November special mention hearing.

Mr Griffiths is one of 11 witnesses Mr Dann wants to cross-examine at next week’s preliminary hearing.

Committal hearings are like a mini-trial in the lower court to allow defence lawyers the opportunity to test the evidence against their client.

Carol Clay and Russell Hill disappeared on a trip to the Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020.

Police and forensic crews search for remains of Russell Hill and Carol Clay. Picture: Jason Edwards

Witnesses are called to answer questions about their evidence given in statements to police, with lawyers often trying to catch them out changing their version of events.

Defence counsel can also make submissions at the end of the evidence for the case, or particular charges, to be thrown out, claiming there is insufficient evidence.

The presiding magistrate then determines if the prosecution has provided sufficient evidence that could see a jury find the accused person guilty.

If this is the case, the magistrate will order the accused to stand trial in a higher court.

The accused would then be asked to formally enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.

In Mr Lynn’s case, if he is committed to trial, he would front the Supreme Court, where all homicide-related trials are dealt with.

If found guilty by a 12-person jury of two counts of murder, he could face a life term behind bars.

Mr Hill, 76, of Drouin, and Mrs Clay, 73, of Pakenham, left for the trip on March 19.

Their last known contact was via amateur radio to a friend of Mr Hill’s in Maffra.

It was confirmed in February last year that remains found in bush near Dargo were those of the pair.