The three women closest to Carol Clay had a message for her killer

The three women closest to Carol Clay refuse to say the name of the man who killed her.

Describing the 73-year-old grandmother as a vibrant, clever and funny caregiver, they say she was so much more than a murder victim.

Carol Clay was remembered as vibrant, clever and funny.Credit: Victoria Police

“I’m a private person from a private family, but I came to realise I need to honour my mum,” daughter Emma Davies told the Supreme Court on Thursday.

“She taught me women are strong, and women are leaders and women’s voices are critical and need to be heard. I can’t sit by and have her narrative told by someone else. I refuse to let her legacy be that of a murder victim.

“I will not be saying the man who murdered my mother’s name. He took her life, he took her dignity and he took her privacy. He destroyed all the evidence, but it’s not just evidence, he destroyed my mother, he burned her beyond recognition,” Davies said.

In June, a jury found former airline pilot Gregory Lynn, 58, guilty of murdering Clay, rejecting his account that she died accidentally at a remote campsite in eastern Victoria. Lynn was found not guilty of murdering fellow camper and Clay’s high school sweetheart Russell Hill, 74.

Gregory Lynn arrives at the Supreme Court on Thursday.Credit: Joe Armao

During a pre-sentence hearing on Thursday, the prosecution called for Lynn to be handed a life sentence – a jail term the court heard was saved for the gravest of murders – for what they described as a cold-blooded and callous killing in the remote high country at Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020.

After the pair died, Lynn drove the bodies in his trailer to hide them in a second remote location, returning eight months later to burn the remains.

It was a final devastating act the three women all referred to in their victim impact statements.

Davies said her mother was a phenomenal woman with an infectious laugh who dedicated her life to caring for others.

Gregory Lynn’s sketch of Buck campsite for police; Gregory Lynn (top right); Carol Clay and Russell Hill.

Standing and facing the judge as she read out her statement, with her back turned to Lynn, Davies said the actions of one man had stolen her mother from her.

“For 20 months, all I wanted to do was put my hands in the dirt and my feet in the river where Mum was last. I wanted to see the area myself, get some answers on how she could possibly be missing,” she said.

“I miss her immeasurably. I’m just a regular person from a regular family, how did this happen to us?”

Lynn watched on from the dock as Clay’s sister, Jillian Walker, spoke from interstate on a video link beamed into the courtroom on a large screen.

The family resemblance between the sisters was striking as Walker spoke of the pair’s childhood in Doncaster East.

“Losing Carol was like losing half my life, half my memory, half my enthusiasm, and half my inspiration and certainly, my links to the wider community.

“She was the glue of my family as well, which has now come unstuck.”

Russell Hill’s wife Robyn and daughter Deborah arrive at court on Thursday.Credit: Joe Armao

Alison Abbott remembered her longest friend as a lover of tennis, and of ABBA, and a doer who contributed widely to society.

“No one deserves to die the way Carol died.”

Defence barrister Dermot Dann, KC, said he recognised this case involved the tragic outcome of the loss of two lives, but reminded the court his client maintained he was innocent.

Dann said they remained “gravely troubled” by the guilty jury verdict and raised the possibility of it being an unsafe result, with the case likely bound for the Court of Appeal.

The court heard Lynn’s defence team will no longer pursue a stay on the case but noted the long-term future of the guilty verdict was “precarious”.

Dann said Lynn was raised in the Blue Mountains in NSW and was accepted into an engineering degree, but had ambitions to be a pilot, and so joined the RAAF. He later moved to a WA base but “fell at the last hurdle” and was discharged before studying to become a commercial pilot.

Lynn went onto work with Qantas, Qatar Airways and Jetstar, working in places including an asparagus farm in Tasmania during downturns in the industry.

The maximum penalty for murder is life imprisonment.

Lynn is due to be sentenced on October 18.

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