Over a year has passed since a former pilot was convicted of the murder of a missing grandmother, and the appeal against his conviction and sentence is now set to be heard.
In June 2024, Greg Lynn was found guilty of murdering 73-year-old Carol Clay, following a jury’s split decision that acquitted him of the murder of her lover, 74-year-old Russell Hill. The couple had vanished while camping at a remote site in Victoria’s high country in March 2020, near the location where Lynn was also staying.
Lynn faced charges for both murders and went to trial, conceding that he burned the bodies but insisting the deaths were unintentional. He testified before the Supreme Court jury that a struggle with Hill over a shotgun led to its accidental discharge, resulting in Clay being fatally shot in the head.
The jury heard that Hill died during a subsequent altercation over a knife. Ultimately, Lynn was acquitted of Hill’s murder but convicted for the death of Clay, a verdict now under appeal.
He gave evidence to the Supreme Court jury that he struggled over his shotgun with Hill when it accidentally discharged, and shot Clay in the head.
Hill died after a struggle with Lynn over a knife, and Lynn was found not guilty of his murder.
Lynn put the bodies of Clay and Hill into a trailer, before driving them to a remote bush track.
He admitted he returned seven months later, after the COVID-19 lockdown lifted, to burn their remains into more than 2000 bone fragments.
He was jailed for 32 years, with a non-parole period of 24 years, by Justice Michael Croucher in October 2024.
The ex-Jetstar pilot’s legal team flagged Lynn would appeal the conviction and sentence soon after the jury delivered their verdicts.
His barrister Dermot Dann KC will argue the prosecution had conducted the trial unfairly and there were inconsistencies in the jury’s split verdicts.
Lynn, 59, will be brought in from prison for the appeal.
The hearing before Justices Karin Emerton, Phillip Priest and Peter Kidd will begin today at the Court of Appeal in Melbourne.
