Wrapped in a blanket and with a surgical mask over his face, former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn set about telling the lies he hoped would one day set him free.
The 57-year-old was found guilty on Tuesday of murdering elderly camper Carol Clay but acquitted of killing her secret lover Russell Hill.
On Friday, the Supreme Court of Victoria made public the section of his chilling police interview record, shown to the jury that convicted him.
The video, which was just one snippet of Lynn’s marathon four-and-a-half-day interview, showed the pilot calmly telling what prosecutors would later describe as “well-rehearsed lies” to detectives.
Lynn had been provided with the duvet to combat the frigid conditions inside the Sale Police Station interrogation room, where Missing Persons Unit detectives Brett Florence and Daniel Passingham questioned him in November 2021.
There he tooHe tells the detectives how Mrs. Clay was accidentally shot and killed while fighting with Mr. Hill, who was then fatally stabbed.
Lynn had pleaded not guilty to the murders, which occurred in the Wonnanangatta Valley in Victoria’s Alpine region on March 20, 2020.
Greg Lynn faces life in prison for the murder of Carol Clay
Detective Sergeant Brett Florence (right) and Chief Constable Daniel Passingham questioned Greg Lynn following his arrest.
Video footage showed Lynn recalling an alleged deadly fight with Mr Hill as they struggled for control of a shotgun when it went off, killing Ms Clay.
The jury heard Lynn approach Mr Hill when a struggle over the firearm ensued.
“I confronted him and said, ‘Give it back to me. What are you doing?’ And he said he was going to take it to the police,” Lynn said.
‘Then as I moved towards him, he already had the clip in the shotgun, and he pulled the gun back and fired a couple of rounds into the air.’
Lynn claimed she fled for her life before sneaking out of the shadows and catching up to Mr Hill.
“I stayed under the shade and got closer,” Lynn said.
‘To try to disarm him, I jumped up, grabbed the barrel of the shotgun with my right arm, spun around to face him… I had my left hand on the stock, my right hand on the barrel, and we struggled.
‘The shotgun was pointed here and it went off. My hand wasn’t on the trigger, it was on the barrel… he didn’t let go, it went off. It went through the left rearview mirror and killed Mrs. Clay.’
Lynn claimed he hid the shotgun when Mr Hill dropped it only to be confronted again moments later armed with a kitchen knife.
“He advances towards me with a knife in his right hand and a closed fist in his left. He first tries to hit me with his left hand, but I blocked him,” Lynn said.
‘With his right hand, he made a movement with the knife, I grabbed his wrist and with my left arm I pulled on his right and he pushed me back on the ground and the knife stabbed into his chest.
‘He turned around and when I got off him he crawled a little bit and then stopped moving. And I thought, “What am I going to do?”
Greg Lynn calmly told lies to detectives for days on end
Carol Clay was shot in the head before Hill died from a knife wound to the chest, Lynn says.
Fire damage was detected on Mr Hill’s Landcruiser. Lynn admitted to burning their camp and then her body.
Lynn claimed she looked for signs of life in both campers, but quickly realized they were both dead.
‘And from here I panicked. You know, that’s my shotgun, a dead person, he’s dead now too. And I’m going to be found guilty of this,’ Lynn said.
The jury heard that Lynn worked quickly to cover up the bloody crime scene.
“It was very messy and that’s why I put the tables and things inside the store,” Lynn said.
The jury heard Lynn set fire to the campers’ tent before hauling their bodies away in his trailer.
Lynn told police she hoped to simply forget what happened in the bush and move on with her life.
“I just wanted it all to go away and move on and not think about it again, but that’s not really going to happen,” Lynn told detectives.
‘I’ve just been trying to keep my head down and get on with life and forget about it. But she has caught up with me.
Lynn told police she wished she had come forward immediately after claiming the “tragic accident” occurred.
‘I wish I had come forward now too, but I just wanted it to go away. No matter what, I was screwed.
Lynn drew maps and diagrams for the detectives.
Lynn finally gave her version of events after days of questioning. The jury did not believe her.
The 12-gauge shotgun Lynn claims Hill stole from her before accidentally shooting her secret lover
The jury heard Lynn calmly describe what was left of the elderly campers after he returned to the crime scene months later to finish disposing of their bodies.
“The snow has cleared. It’s already November and I thought, ‘I have to get this over with because I don’t want to have to deal with this again,'” he said.
‘I drove back and set them on fire. And there was nothing there. You’ll see where it is, but you won’t find anything there. There’s nothing to bury. I’m sorry.’
-That’s the truth and that’s the best I can tell you. It’s not going to be much of a relief to the family. There’s nothing to see, nothing to find.
‘Go and have a look. You will find evidence of the fire. It is what it is.’
On Tuesday, a jury concluded that it could not find beyond a reasonable doubt that Lynn had murdered Mr. Hill.
But they had no doubts about Mrs. Clay.
Lynn will return to court next month for a pre-sentencing hearing.
