‘We’re owed the truth’: Russell Hill’s daughter plans to sue killer Greg Lynn

The daughter of Russell Hill, the camper who died in mysterious circumstances in Victoria’s High Country, plans to sue the man acquitted of his murder.

Former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn was convicted of the murder of fellow camper Carol Clay, but the jury acquitted him of the same charge over Hill, the father of three daughters.

Debbie Hill, daughter of the camper Russell Hill who died in mysterious circumstances. She wants answers.Credit: Eddie Jim

Lynn claimed the deaths of Hill, 74, and Clay, 73, were accidents but admitted destroying the crime scene, then removing, burning and pulverising the bodies.

Hill’s daughter, Debbie Hill, said she wants to sue Lynn so much of the prosecution case deemed inadmissible in the criminal trial can be used in a civil court.

“This is not about chasing money but chasing justice for our family. We’re owed the truth. I firmly believe the jury could not convict him of the murder of Dad because so much evidence was not put to them,” she said.

In the Brittany Higgins rape trial, charges against Bruce Lehrmann were dropped after the jury had to be discharged, but he was later declared a rapist by the judge in a civil case.

Greg Lynn is led away after being sentenced to 32 years’ prison on Friday.Credit: Justin McManus

Debbie Hill said she had also written to the Office of Public Prosecutions asking that Lynn be charged with destruction of evidence.

She said that the OPP had told her that under the law he would not be charged with secondary offences.

“Which means he has got away with what he did to Dad. He is being rewarded for sabotaging evidence,” she said.

The OPP declined to comment.

Lynn’s defence told court the accused had been truthful and did not lie in his police interview.

Robyn Hill and daughter Debbie Hill arrive at court.Credit: Eddie Jim

But what the jury was not told, because the evidence had been struck out, was that in a previous interview at his home and for more than half his formal interview following his arrest he had lied, maintaining he had not even seen the two campers.

At the Sale police station he was asked 2944 questions.

At question 1691 he stopped denying any knowledge and said: “I am going to ignore my solicitor’s advice and tell you what happened right from scratch.”

At one point the whole interview was judged inadmissable, which would have destroyed the prosecution case, but part was reinstated on the orders of the Court of Appeal.

Lynn claimed that while camping on March 20, 2020, at Dry River Creek Road (also known as Bucks Camp) in Wonnangatta, he had a dispute with Hill that led to the older man leaning into Lynn’s car to grab a shotgun.

He said the dispute with Hill escalated with Clay being accidentally shot and then Hill accidentally killing himself when he fell on a knife.

The jury rejected Lynn’s version, convicting him of Clay’s murder, but found there was insufficient evidence to convict him over Hill’s death.

While a gunshot trace found in a bone fragment identified as Clay’s proved she was shot, the destruction of evidence meant Hill’s cause of death could not be established.

Justice Michael Croucher last week sentenced Lynn, 57, to 32 years in jail with a minimum of 24.

In his sentencing remarks Croucher explained that as Lynn had not been convicted of Hill’s murder his relatives could not be legally seen as victims.

“Mr Hill’s loved ones are left in an excruciating legal limbo. Notwithstanding the impossibly awkward and terribly sad positions in which they found themselves, Mrs [Robyn] Hill and her daughter Deborah Hill gave evidence at trial with immense dignity.

“As one person to another, as a matter of common human decency, I should acknowledge their plight, their agony, their suffering. And I do.”

While maintaining his innocence Lynn, first in court and later in a letter to the judge following his conviction, apologised to the families for trying and cover-up the deaths.

“He showed no remorse; he was just looking for a shorter sentence. It was so self-serving,” Debbie Hill said.

She said he didn’t look at the families during the trial and seemed dismissive of them. She said the Hill family was happy with the sentence of 32 years but felt that Russell has not received justice.

Lynn’s barrister Dermot Dann, KC, said last week his client would appeal telling the court: “Lynn maintains his innocence in respect of the murder charge. He maintains he told zero lies in the section of interview played to the jury. He maintains he’s never killed any person, any place, any time, anywhere.”

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