Greg Lynn: ‘I just wanted it to go away and move on and never think about it again’

Accused High Country killer Greg Lynn told police he “panicked” and dumped the bodies of Russell Hill and Carol Clay, believing he would be blamed for their deaths.

Greg Lynn told police he torched Russell Hill and Carol Clay's campsite then packed up his own camp and placed their bodies in the back of his trailer before fleeing.

A Supreme Court jury has been shown accused High Country killer Greg Lynn’s ­interview with police after his arrest over the deaths of missing campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay.

More than an hour of the interview was played on Monday as Mr Lynn’s murder trial entered the fourth week.

It was the first time the jury had heard the former Jetstar captain, 57, speak and give his account of the missing campers’ deaths in his own words.

Mr Lynn – who has pleaded not guilty to the murders of Mr Hill, 74, and Ms Clay, 73 – was arrested in November 2021 then transferred to Sale Police Station, where he was questioned by missing persons squad detectives Brett Florence and Daniel Passingham.

In the interview, Mr Lynn is wearing a grey jumper, blue surgical mask, glasses, and what appears to be a blanket around his torso as he sits at a desk opposite the two detectives, who are out of view.

Monday was the first time the jury had heard Greg Lynn’s account of the missing campers’ deaths in his own words.

Lynn knew he was on police ‘radar’

In the lead-up to his arrest, Mr Lynn revealed to the detectives, he had become increasingly paranoid that he was on their “radar”.

He questioned whether they had enlisted his colleagues and an associate from a sports club to elicit answers from him about Mr Hill and Ms Clay’s disappearance.

Asked what he thought of a 60 Minutes episode and media reports on the case, Mr Lynn said: “Well, I know that I’ve been on the radar for a while”.

He said that many people had said odd things to him and it was “a bit like The Truman Show” – a reference to a Jim Carrey film in which a man’s life is the premise of a TV show but he doesn’t know it.

Mr Lynn told police he was increasingly paranoid he was on their ‘radar’ after the deaths of Carol Clay and Russell Hill.

The ex-pilot said the president of the Little River Raiders club had taken an “unusual interest” in him, often calling him and sending messages.

Detectives confirmed they had spoken with the man but only a week earlier.

“He is a lovely guy,” Mr Lynn said in agreement with detectives.

“Maybe I’m just paranoid … maybe he’s just friendly then.”

He also spoke about a colleague he thought did not like him and had asked him about camping, but the detectives denied knowing who he was.

Mr Hill and Mrs Clay’s deaths were ‘accidental’

Mr Lynn drew a map of Bucks Camp, in the Wonnangatta Valley, showing where his camp was in relation to Mr Hill and Ms Clay.

He told the detectives he would have preferred to have the site to himself but he had “cordial” interactions with Mr Hill on the Thursday night.

He said he spoke with Mr Hill the next morning, when the retiree revealed he was in the area to remember a friend who had been killed while deer hunting.

Later that day while he was out hunting, Mr Lynn said he heard a loud noise like a beehive or wasp nest buzzing.

“I looked up and there was a bloody drone right above my head, that was bizarre,” he said.

He said he later saw Mr Hill with the drone.

Missing persons squad detective Brett Florence was one of two detectives who interviewed Greg Lynn at Sale Police Station. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Back at camp, Mr Lynn said he “sat and thought about” the drone before eventually approaching Mr Hill about dinner time to raise it.

He said the elderly camper told him he did not like deer hunters, and he had video footage of Mr Lynn with a firearm close to the camp that he would take to police.

“I said this was ridiculous,” Mr Lynn said, claiming Mr Hill also suggested he was going to tell police he shot through the camp.

“I think the whole purpose of it was he wanted me to go.”

Mr Lynn said he returned to his camp, turned up the stereo in his car and opened the door to annoy Mr Hill, which he ­admitted was “a bit of a childish thing to do”.

Hours later when it was now dark, Mr Lynn said he heard “rustling” near his Nissan Patrol before he saw Mr Hill walking away with Mr Lynn’s shotgun and a magazine of ammunition that had been left on the front seat.

Greg Lynn’s Nissan Patrol and trailer were captured by an automatic number plate recognition camera. Picture: Supreme Court of Victoria

Mr Lynn acknowledged it was illegal for the firearm not to be locked up.

He said he confronted Mr Hill, telling him “give it back, what are you doing?” to which the retiree replied he was taking it to police.

Mr Lynn claimed Mr Hill then fired a couple rounds into the air, prompting him to duck for cover behind Mr Hill’s Toyota LandCruiser ­because he feared he might “cop the next one”.

“I saw the barrel of the shotgun appear over the bonnet, and to try and disarm him, I jumped up, I grabbed the shotgun barrel,” he said.

“I had the left hand on the stock, right hand on the barrel and we wrestled. The shotgun was pointed over this way, and it was discharged. My hand was not on the trigger. It was on the barrel.”

Mr Lynn took a deep breath as he explained to police the accidental discharge went through the side mirror of Mr Hill’s LandCruiser and struck Ms Clay in the head.

Mr Hill immediately let go of the shotgun, allowing him to return it to his car, Mr Lynn said.

He claimed Mr Hill then ­advanced towards him with a knife, screaming “she’s dead”, before he took a swing.

Mr Lynn said he blocked it, breaking Mr Hill’s wrist, before they wrestled over the blade. “He pushed me over back on to the ground and the knife went into his chest,” he said. “He rolled over and I got off him. He drooled a little bit, then he stopped moving.”

Mr Lynn said he checked for a pulse but he was “clearly dead”.

Mr Lynn destroyed the camp

With the elderly campers dead, Mr Lynn said he “panicked” believing he would be blamed. “I panicked and I thought, you know it’s my shotgun, one person dead, he’s dead now, I’m going to be found guilty of this,” he said.

He said he torched the couple’s campsite then packed up his own camp and placed their bodies in the back of his trailer before fleeing.

Mr Lynn said he used a gas bottle to ignite their tent, which flared instead of exploding. “That’s what left the scorch tracks (on Mr Hill’s LandCruiser),” he said.

Mr Lynn said he dumped their bodies in remote bush near Union Spur Track but police would not find them.

“Why is that?” detectives asked.

“I’ll finish the story,” he ­replied.

Mr Lynn said he disposed of the pair’s phones in water on his way home, and he burnt the drone.

After he returned home, Mr Lynn said he was a little bruised from the incident.

“I didn’t tell the wife anything about it and the rest has been in the news,” he said.

Admitting it was a “mistake” to hide the bodies, Mr Lynn said he should have gone straight to police.

“I just wanted it to go away and move on and never think about it again but clearly that’s not going to happen,” he said.

He said he tried to keep his “head down” and move on with his life but realised it had “caught up” with him.

One of the detectives told him they wished he had come forward.

“I wish I had come forward now too, but I made a poor choice, I just wanted it to go away … whatever happened I was screwed,” he replied.

He added the evidence police had was “compelling” but he believed it would “tick every one of those boxes (of his story)”.

After he returned home, Victoria went into lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

When restrictions eased, Mr Lynn said, he returned to where the bodies had been dumped to cover them with sticks and rocks, adding he was surprised they had not been uncovered.

Mr Lynn said he returned again in November because he thought “I’ve got to finish this”.

“I drove back, set fire to them … you’ll find nothing there, there’s nothing to be found,” he told police.

“I’m sorry but that’s the truth and that’s the best I can give you, it’s not going to be much relief for the families (that) there’s nothing to see, nothing to be found.”

Mr Lynn offered to show officers the location on an iPad before he was given a laptop and pulled it up on Google Earth. Asked if he felt better now that he had told police, Mr Lynn said: “I guess so, I just wish it never happened … it has been stressful.”

More of the interview will be played on Tuesday as the trial continues.