GREG LYNN POLICE INTERVIEW TAPES RELEASED BY COURT AFTER MURDER TRIAL JURY'S SPLIT VERDICT
In the days after his arrest in November 2021, former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn sat down with police to tell them his side of the story.
Lynn was the prime suspect in the alleged murders of Carol Clay and Russell Hill, in Victoria's High Country, about two years earlier.
For the first time, part of his police interview has been released by the court.
Lynn recounts drone argument with Russell Hill
Greg Lynn told police officers Detective Sergeant Brett Florence and Detective Leading Senior Constable Daniel Passingham that his initial conversations with fellow campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay had been friendly.
The following day, Lynn went out with his rifle to hunt deer, and said Mr Hill's demeanour had changed when he returned to the campsite.
Lynn said he was also unsettled by a drone which buzzed above his head, which was owned by Mr Hill.
Lynn said the 74-year-old had threatened to take some of his drone footage to the police, and tell lies that the hunter had fired his rifle through the campsite.
He also described walking away, eating his dinner, and deciding to provoke the retirees by turning the music up on his car stereo.
GREG LYNN: It was really loud. I couldn't figure out what it was. And I looked up and it was a bloody drone right above my head, and that was bizarre. And then as I looked up, I only had gazed on it for a couple of seconds and then whoosh, moved, like — gone.
POLICE OFFICER: Yeah.
GREG LYNN: All right. "What's this all about?" So came back to the camp, crossed over the river, not by the swinging bridge and this is —
POLICE OFFICER: — 'Cause it's not overly deep there.
GREG LYNN: No, no, you can just quickly wade across. And it's getting late in the afternoon by this stage. And as I come into the — so it's just on dinnertime. As I come into the camp — like, I didn't know where this drone was from, but as I came into the camp where I was — unloaded the rifle, but still in hand — this guy walks out over to here on the other side of his car with controller in hand, drone sitting on the ground.
Zips the drone up and it just hovers there for about 10 seconds. Straight back down, puts it under his arm, took back to his camp. I thought, "What the hell is this? What's going on? Drones are cameras … flying cameras.
I didn't go and confront him over this straightaway. I sat down and I just thought about it for a while. "What's this all about?" And I was getting my dinner ready, then I decided to go and find out what this drone incident is all about. So I walked up there unarmed. I asked him why he was using the drone, and he said that he didn't like deer hunters and that he had some video footage of me now hunting, you know, close to the camp.
And I said, "I wasn't. I was right up the valley". But, you know, he's got pictures of me with the rifle in hand close to the camp and that he was going to take those pictures to police, and I said, "That's just ridiculous". And he said, "Well, you know, I could just say that you shot through the camp site". And I didn't. So I think the whole purpose of it was he just wanted me to go.
POLICE OFFICER: Yeah.
GREG LYNN: Anyway, went back to my camp, had my dinner. And yes, I was annoyed. Didn't do anything about it. But I did turn the stereo up and played some loud music, which is a bit of a childish thing to do …
The deadly fight, as explained by Greg Lynn
Lynn told police that he heard rustling in his vehicle, and realised Mr Hill had taken his Barathrum Arms shotgun and its ammunition.
He claimed he told Mr Hill to give the gun back, and that a fight over the weapon then occurred.
It was during that tussle that the gun discharged and Carol Clay was shot in the head, Lynn said.
"My hand was not on the trigger," Lynn said.
He said a subsequent struggle then took place with Mr Hill, who was allegedly armed with a knife.
The knife went into Mr Hill's chest when the men tumbled to the ground, Lynn said.
"And then I thought, 'what am I gonna do?'," Lynn said.
In the trial, prosecutors rejected Lynn's story, telling the jury it was a "fabrication" and that they believed he had killed both retirees with murderous intent.
GREG LYNN: And I came around here and I confronted him. "Give it back," you know. "What are you doing?" And he said he was gunna take that to the police with him.
And then when I advanced towards him he had the magazine in the in the shotgun at this stage. He pulled the action back and he let a couple of rounds go into the air. I immediately ran around the back here fearing that, you know, I might be going to cop the next one, and I waited. It was in shadow around here and it was dark.
I didn't want to run back towards my car 'cause if he was going to, you know, shoot me then he would've had a clear shot. I then hear Mr Hill coming around this side of the car, and so I kept under the shadow and I moved in closer, again fearing that if I ran this way I'd cop another one.
I saw the barrel of the shotgun appear over the bonnet, and to try and disarm him I jumped up, I grabbed the shotgun barrel with my right arm, pivoted around so I was facing him, him facing away from the bonnet of the car. I had the left hand on the stock, right hand on the barrel and we wrestled. The shotgun was pointed over this way and it was discharged.
My hand was not on the trigger. It was on the barrel, right hand, left hand on the stock, pushing up against him. He wouldn't let it go. It discharged. It went through the left-hand rearview and killed Ms Clay dead. She was shot through the head. I saw her in the in the peripheral. I didn't actually see which way she was standing, but when — later she was lying face down on the ground.
POLICE OFFICER: Yeah.
GREG LYNN: Immediately, Russell Hill let go of the shotgun and I took the shotgun straight back to the car. There was another round in the shotgun. I just discharged that to get rid of it straightaway, moved the action, fired it off into the air, threw the gun into the bag, magazine out, magazine on the floor and shut both doors, turned the music off. So he couldn't get at it again.
As I turned around and coming back this way, in the meantime he had been with Ms Clay. He advances towards me with a knife in his right hand and a fist clenched in his left. He first takes a swing with his left hand. I blocked that. With his right hand he takes a swing with the knife. I grabbed his wrist and with my left arm pulled over his right, and he pushed me over back onto the ground and the knife went into his chest. We rolled over and I got off him.
He crawled a little bit and then he stopped moving. And then I thought, "What am I gonna do?" I went over. Ms Clay was clearly dead. I came back. I checked for a pulse on Mr Hill. He was clearly dead. There was no pulse.
And from here I panicked, and I thought, you know, "That's my shotgun. There's one person dead, and he's dead as well now. I'm going to be found guilty of this." And then I tried to cover everything up. And everything else is pretty much as you say. That was on Friday the 20th.
Lynn describes the cover-up as police close in
Lynn told officers that after dumping the bodies in a place called Union Spur Track, he decided to return to the site to "finish" the job.
"I just don't wanna ever have to deal with it again," he said.
Lynn's cover up included repainting his four-wheel-drive, selling the trailer used to transport the bodies and lying to officers.
But his most dramatic decision was to torch the bodies to in a bid to eliminate any remaining trace of the campers.
"That's the truth and that's the best I can give you. It's not gonna be much relief for the families," he said.
GREG LYNN: I watch the nightly news, and it turned from a disappearance. I just wanted it to go away and just move on and just never think about it again, but clearly that's not gonna happen. And so then there's a missing persons search and we were in lockdown.
And it is true that I was stood down and I had some real cash issues, so I just went through the garage to sell everything I could reasonably sell, and I sold the camper… The camper van — the Jayco Hawk. And I sold another sleigh bed as well that had been sitting in there for two decades — an antique one. And that blue trailer, I sold that as well. I couldn't tell you who bought it. It was an Asian fella. And I thought the registration had run out, so I just took the numberplates off and sold it as is and he took it like that.
But I don't know who he is, don't know where he took it. And then the lockdown's ended in June. And I went back up there and I had a look. And I thought I would've thought that someone would've found them by then, but no-one had. Thought, "What to do?". So I covered the bodies up with sticks and rocks and left it, and shortly after that snows came and all of that was under snow.
More lockdowns. And the snow's dissipated and it's now November. And I got to finish this, and so I just don't wanna ever have to deal with it again. And I drove back up there and just set fire to it. There's nothing there. You'll see where it is if you go there, but you'll find nothing there.
There's nothing to be found. I'm sorry. But the that's the truth, and that's the best I can give you. It's not gonna be much relief for the families. There's nothing to see, nothing to be found. Go and have a look. You'll find evidence of the fire and…It is what it is. That was in November.
Lynn talks about his 'decision-making pathways'
In the moments after the deaths, Lynn said he made "quick decisions to try to come to the best outcome".
He then asked detectives for a piece of paper and explained the "decision-making pathways" he considered.
Lynn believed if he was a doctor or a tradesman and told police the truth, he would be able to move on with his life and not face additional consequences from the incident at Bucks Camp.
But his situation was different, he claimed.
He said the simple act of not storing his firearm properly could result in him being stripped of his Aviation Security Identification Card (ASIC), which he required to work as a pilot.
It would also likely cost him his membership of sporting shooting clubs, he said.
"This at a time when I was actually just finding a really happy place in the world with family, career, and my personal life outside of work. And so this, for me, was a disaster, and I thought, 'What else could I possibly do?'" he said.
GREG LYNN: I panicked. I left him as he was, there on the ground, knife still there, he wasn't moving. I went and had a look at Ms Clay, and he was right, she was clearly dead. And then I thought, "What am I going to do?" and my my profession is working out decision-making pathways, and you might think, "Well, made a terrible one here," but quick decisions to try to come to the best outcome, that's what I do. Do you have a piece of paper?
POLICE OFFICER: Yep, hang on.
GREG LYNN: None of my decisions, whichever pathway I took, was going to make any difference to these two. So, yep, I tried to save myself. If I was a doctor, I'm not obviously, but if I was, probably, and I was married, my family would be important to me … career, if I was a member of the golf club. If I told the truth — there's the doctor, and drove straight down to Sale here and told you what happened, my family are gunna be upset, but it wouldn't effect my career or any other aspects of my life, and you could just move on from that.
And there could be a feasible resolution from telling the truth just straight up. If I was a tradie, married, career, fishing club membership, yes, everyone's going to be upset, but none of these things are a problem, and just coming to you straight up and telling you the truth, not a problem. For me, I'm married with a family, yep, they'd be upset if I came to you straight away. Career, the rest of my life with my membership of these two places, for this one I need an ASIC, my career is over if I came and told you the truth straightaway. It's over.
The simple fact that I've failed the compliance with the act of firearm storage in a car, and that's resulted in this disaster, that's finished. These two, even more so. What I do, with the the clubs that I'm involved with, it's not invitation only, but it's only after very careful scrutiny and interviewing that you're allowed to be members of these places. And an event like that, I would just be instantly banned for life.
And this at a time when I was actually just finding a really happy place in the world with family, career, and my personal life outside of work. And so this, for me, was a disaster, and I thought, "What else could I possibly do?" And if I covered it up — not so much cover up this, but cover up me, to make me disappear from the scene. And I quickly made this assessment, this is the only that offered any hope — not guaranteed — any hope of avoiding that.
Not saying I went through this on paper … this is just the way I think. And then I had a list of tasks to do, and I set myself about doing it, and I packed up, pitched the trailer, packed my camp up, put them in the trailer, and then looked around at the evidence, there's no evidence of me being out there now. There was questions about who had seen me there, but I had never actually spoken to anyone other than the — the blackberry sprayers, and that was two days prior.
Police lay murder charges
After several days of interviews — and once police went to the site where Lynn said the campers' remains were located — the pilot was formally charged with two counts of murder.
Lynn declined the offer to make a handwritten statement, given he had already provided verbal answers to the officers.
Detective Sergeant Brett Florence told him: "Greg, you're going to be charged with the murders of Russell Hill and Carol Clay. You do not have to say or do anything unless you wish to do so but whatever you say or do may be recorded and given in evidence. Do you understand this?"
"I understand," Lynn replied.
"Do you wish to say anything in answer to the charge or charges?"
"I'm innocent of murder. I haven't behaved well, I've made some poor decisions. But murder, as I understand it, I'm innocent of."
The interview concluded moments later.
POLICE OFFICER: Greg, you're going to be charged with the murders of Russell Hill and Carol Clay. You do not have to say or do anything unless you wish to do so but whatever you say or do may be recorded and given in evidence. Do you understand this?
GREG LYNN: I understand.
POLICE OFFICER: Do you wish to say anything in answer to the charge or charges?
GREG LYNN: I'm innocent of murder. I haven't behaved well, I've made some poor decisions. But murder, as I understand it, I'm innocent of.
POLICE OFFICER: OK. Do you wish to make a handwritten statement in relation to the matter?
GREG LYNN: I think it's pretty much covered here.
POLICE OFFICER: Yeah, all right. Do you agree it's 16 minutes past 6pm by my watch?
GREG LYNN: I agree.
POLICE OFFICER: Yeah. I'll conclude the interview.