Ex-Pilot Who Killed Elderly Camper Applies to Walk Out of Jail

A Victorian court heard an appeal about the 2020 murder of elderly camper Carol Clay by former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn.

Following a five-week trial, a supreme court jury last month handed Gregory Stuart Lynn a guilty verdict for the murder of Clay but acquitted him of the 2020 murder of Russell Hill in Victoria’s high country.

Both Hill (74 years old) and Clay (73 years old) died while camping together; Hill was having an affair with Clay.

The conviction was appealed to the higher Supreme Court on Friday by Lynn’s attorney, Dermott Dann KC.

Prior to sentencing for the death of elderly camper Carol Clay and while an appeal is underway against the conviction, former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn has requested to be released from prison.

During Friday’s appearance before Justice Michael Croucher in Victoria’s Supreme Court, the 57-year-old learned that the convicted killer had been the target of prison attacks during the whole of his six-week trial.

The only previous instance of this type of application for a sentence stay under Section 309 of the Criminal Procedure Act was in the notorious Brett Whiteley art fraud case seven years ago when Justice Croucher personally heard it.

In order to ensure his safety, Lynn was kept in isolation within the Metropolitan Remand jail, but he now thinks that he would be targeted by prisoners at whichever jail he ends up in, according to the court.

According to Mr. Dann, the situation has worsened since the guilty verdict, as several media stories have highlighted evidence that the jury was not shown.

Given the high-profile nature of the case and the murder conviction, Mr. Dann stated that a successful appeal might lead to Lynn’s complete release from prison without the need for a new trial.

“There is absolutely no hope of a fair retrial,” Mr. Dann declared.

According to the seasoned lawyer, any potential jury pool would have been “contaminated” by the inadmissible evidence that flooded news sites in the weeks after the verdict.

The fatalities, according to Dann, were the consequence of an unfortunate accident, and his client had “made a series of terrible choices” in order to conceal the truth.

According to Lynn, the altercation between Hill and Clay over the former pilot’s weapon resulted in Hill shooting Clay in the head. A knife pierced Hill’s torso during a following altercation, and he succumbed to his injuries.

A new hearing is scheduled for 12 September after Lynn was remanded in jail.