‘In great doubt’: Greg Lynn’s lawyer flags appeal in missing campers case as sentencing delayed

The guilty verdict against a former Jetstar pilot in the murder of a missing camper is “in great doubt”, the killer’s lawyer says.

Victorian High Country killer Greg Lynn has flagged he will appeal his murder conviction, a court has been told.

Lynn appeared for a pre-sentence hearing in the Melbourne Supreme Court on Friday.

“There will be an argument the prosecution conducted the trial unfairly. They broke the rules 25 times,” his lawyer Dermott Dann KC told the court.

“The law is littered with examples where retrials have been ordered.”

Lynn was convicted of the murder of Carol Clay, 73, and acquitted of the murder of her lover Russell Hill, 74, at a lengthy trial that ended in June.

Lynn, a former Jetstar pilot, pleaded not guilty to both charges at trial and maintains his innocence, arguing the deaths were both accidental.

Ms Clay and Mr Hill had gone missing in Victoria’s high country in March 2020, sparking a lengthy search that made national headlines.

Mr Lynn took constant notes at Friday’s hearing. Picture: NewsWire / David Crosling

Mr Dann said Lynn maintained he didn’t kill anybody.

“The long-term future of that guilty verdict must be seen as being in great doubt,” Mr Dann said.

“That will affect how this sentencing process plays out.”

He said the defence would now probe how the jury arrived at their verdicts, with Mr Dann proffering “two improper pathways”.

Carol Clay and Russell Hill died in March 2020.

He said the jury could not have reached the conclusion Lynn killed Ms Clay after she witnessed an unlawful killing of Mr Hill.

“It’s going to require a bit more discussion than that but I understand the point,” Justice Michael Croucher said.

Justice Croucher adjourned the matter for a plea hearing on September 12, that may spill into a second day.

Lynn’s lawyers may advance a rare specific Criminal Procedure Act application, asking for the court to push back sentencing beyond an appeal.

Justice Croucher jokingly likened the general rarity of the applications being granted to him winning the Stawell Gift running race.

The guilty verdict Crown prosecutor Daniel Porceddu secured will likely be subject to appeal from Lynn’s lawyers. Picture: David Geraghty / NewsWire

On Friday, Lynn sat taking notes throughout the hearing, wearing a baby blue turtleneck sweater, navy blazer and glasses.

Crown prosecutor Daniel Porceddu asked the court for a four-week adjournment to finalise victim impact statements. In his submissions, Mr Dann said sentencing could be split so as to have one hearing for victim impact statements to be read and another hearing for the actual sentencing.

Despite being standing room-only at times during the trial, there were only six people in the public gallery on Friday, and no family of Mr Lynn or the victims were present.

Defence lawyer Dermot Dann, KC, is attempting to poke holes in the Crown’s conduct at trial and the ‘pathway’ the jurors took in reaching their verdicts. Picture: David Geraghty / NewsWire

At trial, the jury heard Lynn’s lengthy police interview in which he described disposing of the pair’s remains.

Lynn had claimed the couple was accidentally killed in separate struggles involving a shotgun and a kitchen knife after a dispute with Mr Hill over his drone.

Lynn admitted destroying the pair’s campsite and disposing of the remains in bushland along the Union Spur track near Dargo, returning eight months later to burn the bodies with kerosene.

Lynn’s lawyer argued the former Jetstar pilot feared he would be wrongly blamed for the deaths. Picture: David Geraghty / NewsWire

Mr Dann said his client had made a “series of terrible choices”, fearing he would be wrongly blamed.

Through his barrister, Lynn claimed Mrs Clay was accidentally killed first as the two men wrestled over his gun.

On Lynn’s account, Mr Hill died after approaching Lynn with a knife, falling on it accidentally as they fought a second time.

In court on Friday, Mr Dann said “unsubstantiated rumours, links to other crimes” in the media and “other forums” since the verdicts would “pollute the well of justice” should a retrial be ordered.

Lynn was attacked in prison near the end of the trial and was subsequently placed in isolation, his lawyer said.