‘None of my decisions, whichever pathway I took, was going to make any difference to these two’

Former Jetstar captain Greg Lynn has defended covering up the deaths of campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay, saying he hid his tracks to give himself the best chance at living a “normal life”.

Carol Clay and Russell Hill were allegedly murdered by Greg Lynn.

Accused High Country killer Greg Lynn defended covering up the deaths of Russell Hill and Carol Clay, telling police his piloting career had taught him to make “quick decisions”.

The former Jetstar captain, 57, also admitted stealing cash from the missing campers’ wallets to pay for fuel but claimed he wasn’t a “thief”, he just did not want to use a credit card.

In an extraordinary day in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, another two hours of Mr Lynn’s interview with police after his November 2021 arrest was played to a jury.

Mr Lynn is accused of murdering Mr Hill, 74, and Mrs Clay, 73, who vanished during a camping trip to the Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020.

Greg Lynn admitted stealing cash from the missing campers’ wallets.

In an earlier portion of the interview played to jurors on Monday, Mr Lynn had claimed Mr Hill and Mrs Clay were accidentally killed in separate struggles involving a shotgun and knife.

Lynn just wanted ‘best outcome’

With the two elderly campers dead, Mr Lynn told detectives his career had taught him to make “quick decisions” to try and get the “best outcome”.

“None of my decisions, whichever pathway I took, was going to make any difference to these two,” he said, adding he wanted to save himself.

He said he thought if he “covered up” their deaths he would have a better chance at living a “normal life”.

But he said that decision “quickly unravelled” when a track leading out of the valley was closed, forcing him to turn back.

Mr Lynn said he dumped the bodies near Union Spur Track, covering them with branches.

“The objective was not to make them disappear, as much as to make me disappear,” he said.

Police would visit Mr Lynn at his Caroline Springs home in July 2020, which he said made him nervous that his plan was “unravelling”, prompting him to make the evidence vanish instead.

“I steeled myself for the task and allowed myself one night to do it,” he said.

He returned to Union Spur Track in November 2020, where he said he found the remains decomposed and Mrs Clay missing a large section of her head due to the gunshot.

A small amount of fuel was used to set fire to their remains, he said.

“I didn’t want to do it, it was a horrific thing to have to deal with, I was sick several times,” he said.

Greg Lynn said when he returned to check on Carol Clay she was missing a large section of her head due to the gunshot.

He said he thought a “wild dog” had also interfered with the remains, which he described as “pretty gruesome”.

He said his “contingency plan” to dispose of the remains was to “find a deep river to put them in”.

Detectives later asked him in the interview what made him throw up.

“Smell, memories, the task at hand that I had to do,” he said.

“But I just thought, it’s one night, I’ve got to do it, finish it and then it’s done.”

He said he started the fire at sunset, and it burned until sunrise.

Seated in the dock, Mr Lynn looked down as the part of the interview where he explained why he chose to conceal the missing campers’ deaths was played.

Campers were ‘trying to have fun in bed’

After Mr Lynn revealed the location of where the bodies were dumped, detectives paused the interview so they could travel to Union Spur Track the next morning on November 25, 2021.

The interview recommenced later that afternoon when they returned.

Discussing the scuffle with Mr Hill, Mr Lynn said he believed the pair were in bed before the elderly camper approached his camp and took Mr Lynn’s shotgun from his vehicle.

“He’s trying to have fun in bed and I was playing the music that he didn’t like loud and he’s lost his temper,” Mr Lynn said.

Mr Lynn claimed Mr Hill took his shotgun and fired it “not at me but over my head” when he tried to get it back.

Mr Lynn said he believed Russell Hill had been in bed before the elderly camper approached his camp and took Mr Lynn’s shotgun.

He said “ran into the shadow” behind Mr Hill’s car before he tried wrestling it back, as Mrs Clay, wearing her pyjamas, was standing behind Mr Hill.

“She was telling him to stop it … I told him to give me the shotgun back, he said no, he was taking it to the police with his drone footage,” Mr Lynn said.

“We wrestled with it … I thought I could get it off him.”

After Mrs Clay was accidentally shot, Mr Hill immediately let go of it and went to Mrs Clay who had fallen to the ground, he said.

Within about a minute, Mr Lynn said he’d returned to his camp and placed the gun in his car before Mr Hill “charged” over with a knife saying “she’s dead!”.

He said he fought with Mr Hill before the blade went “straight through his chest” after he fell on top of him.

“He drooled a little … he died right there,” he said.

“When I checked (if) he was breathing, he wasn’t, I checked his pulse, there was nothing there.”

Mr Lynn said he took cash from their wallets which he used to buy fuel but he wasn’t a “thief” by nature, he just did not want to use credit cards.

After he returned home, Mr Lynn said he cleaned the firearm to try and get rid of any evidence that would link him to their deaths.

“Trying to cover it up was one option for a glimmer of hope to a normal life, but it hasn’t panned out that way,” he said.

Covid ‘pandemonium’ distracted wife from asking about his trip, Lynn claimed

As he returned home, Mr Lynn said his wife Melanie told him the whole country was going into lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It’s absolute pandemonium, you can’t buy toilet paper, you can’t buy cleaning stuff,” Mr Lynn said his wife told him on the phone.

“She didn’t ask anything about my trip, there was so much else going on,” he said.

“Camping is not her thing anyway.”

He said he had bruises from his scuffle with Mr Hill, and that police would have to ask his wife if she noticed them.

“I do bruise easily now, I’m 55,” he said.

Mr Lynn outside his Caroline Springs home in November 2021 in a picture taken by a police surveillance device.

Pilot’s internal ‘panic’

Discussing a visit police made to Mr Lynn’s home in July 2020, he told detectives: “I might have seemed calm on the outside but (I was) panicking internally.”

Asked whether he thought of coming forward at that point, he said: “It was too late by then”.

On that visit, police noticed Mr Lynn’s Nissan Patrol had been repainted from dark grey to beige.

Asked why he had repainted his car, Mr Lynn said he was aware police were looking for it but it also needed a new coat.

Detective Florence asked Mr Lynn what his wife thought of him repainting the 4WD.

“Here he goes again, he’s painting his car,” he replied.

Police later seized her phone, where they found a picture which was shown to the jury showing Mr Lynn as he painted his vehicle.

‘I’m innocent’ pleas as Lynn was charged with murder

At the end of the interview, Detective Florence turned to the man across the table from him.

“Greg, you’re going to be charged with the murders of Russell Hill and Carol Clay,” he told him.

Sitting with his hands clasped together on the table and glasses perched on his nose, Mr Lynn replied: “I understand”.

Asked if he wished to say anything in answer to the charges, Mr Lynn said: “I’m innocent of murder, I haven’t behaved well, I’ve made some poor decisions, but murder as I understand it, I’m innocent of.”

Detective Florence was called to the witness box after the interview was played, where he told the jury Mr Lynn had listed his trailer on Gumtree in the days after the alleged murders.

He also detailed how police put a tracker on Mr Lynn’s 4WD and a surveillance team took photos of it.

The trial continues.