As it happened: What accused killer Gregory Lynn told the jury about missing campers’ deaths

Breaking his silence for the first time, Gregory Lynn told the Supreme Court today that he was not guilty of murder, but agreed his actions after the deaths of Hill and Clay were despicable.

After a full day of evidence, the prosecution has finished its cross-examination and Lynn has been excused from the witness box.

The jury has been sent away for the long weekend. Closing arguments will begin on Tuesday.

I’m Erin Pearson and thank you for following our live coverage of today’s court proceedings.

A sketch of Gregory Lynn in the witness box at the Supreme Court.Credit: Paul Tyquin/Nine News

The prosecution has finished its cross-examination and Lynn has been excused from the witness box.

The jury will now be sent away for the long weekend and begin hearing closing arguments on Tuesday.

Crown prosecutor Daniel Porceddu is asking Gregory Lynn about why he left his car doors open with guns inside.

Despite his normal attention to gun safety and an earlier confrontation with Russell Hill about his use of a firearm too close to the campsite, Lynn concedes he left his guns in the car with the doors open.

“I didn’t think he’d [Hill] be bold enough to take the shotgun,” Lynn tells the 12-member jury.

Porceddu tells the court that Hill never came his car to get those firearms.

Gregory Lynn is admitting lying to his wife about his involvement in the missing campers case as media reports about Russell Hill and Carol Clay started to be published in 2020.

“The last thing I wanted to do was tell other people about it. I never mentioned anything to anyone. I still haven’t talked to them about it.”

Gregory Lynn’s wife Melanie.Credit: Wayne Taylor

Crown prosecutor Daniel Porceddu is asking about how prepared Lynn was to lie to cover up the case:

Porceddu: When required, you are prepared to be deceptive?

Lynn: I lied to my wife to protect her.

Porceddu: Didn’t you lie to your wife to protect yourself?

Lynn: No.

In May 2020, Gregory Lynn says he returned to Union Spur Track – where Carol Clay and Russell Hill’s remains were found.

“They were decomposing. I didn’t look very closely, but they hadn’t moved, no animals had been at them, the sticks were still on top,” Lynn says.

On November 18, 2020, he returned to the site, arriving just before sunset.

When it was dark, he removed some of the wood on top of Hill and Clay’s bodies, added accelerant and lit a fire.

Throughout the night he had to put more pieces of wood on the fire to keep it going.

“Almost everything was gone, it was just mostly ash left,” he said.

Lynn says he decided to destroy the bodies after being visited by police and revealing to them the route he had taken out of the Wonnangatta Valley.

He says he became physically sick several times, but that didn’t persuade him to stop.

“It was a difficult task. I knew, or thought, that once that was over and the evidence from my now-known route was gone, that I would finally be free of this disaster.”

Crown prosecutor Daniel Porceddu: Despite feeling sick, you remained there till the job was done?

Lynn: Yes.

The cross-examination of accused missing campers’ killer Gregory Lynn is resuming.

Crown prosecutor Daniel Porceddu is asking Lynn, 57, about the destruction of evidence at a remote campsite in Victoria’s High Country after the deaths of Russell Hill and Carol Clay.

Lynn denies that it was always his intention to destroy, or “obliterate”, the bodies when he dumped them.

“I expected them to be found. If I wanted to hide the bodies, I would have dragged them off into the bush.”

The Missing Campers Trial is the first podcast to follow a jury trial in real time in Victoria.

It is brought to you by 9News, The Age and 9Podcasts.

The podcast is presented by Nine reporter Penelope Liersch and Age reporter Erin Pearson.

In evidence to a Supreme Court jury, accused double killer Gregory Lynn has described the “horrendous” scene of the deaths of missing campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay after a struggle over a shotgun with Hill.

He says the pair died accidentally, while the prosecution claims Lynn acted with murderous intent.

Gregory Lynn, who is giving evidence in his Supreme Court trial today, has pleaded not guilty to the murders of missing campers Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73.

He has told police that he and Hill were struggling over Lynn’s shotgun at Bucks Camp in the Wonnangatta Valley on March 20, 2020, when it accidentally fired and struck Clay, killing her.

Lynn, 57, told police that soon after Clay was shot dead, Hill ran at him with a black-handled kitchen knife and died when he fell on the knife during a struggle.

Lynn was arrested in November 2021.

Here is a timeline of the police investigation.