I'm Andrew Rule. This is life and Crimes. Sadly, I'm not around at the minute because i am away on assignment or on holidays or hiding out or something. But I'm not here, and that means that the current court hearing involving the woongatter case, that is the disappearance of the campus Russell Hill and Carol Clay and the subsequent charges laid against Greg Lynn, that case is kicking off in my absence because I'm not here to talk about it.
The most excellent Herald Sun reporter Laura Placella is over to you.
Laura.
Thanks Andrew. I've previously covered this high profile case during my time as a court reporter, and I'm joined by one of my colleagues, Miles Priest, who will be covering the trial that is now underway in the Supreme Court. Thank you so much, Miles for making time for us after what I'm sure was a very long day in court.
Yeah good, bit tired, but it was great to finally hear some detail on this case.
So tell our listeners what's your.
Role at the herald'sun So I'm a court reporter. I've been in that role for over two years now and I've been with the paper for about three.
Years, and it's my understanding that you're going to be like the eyes and ears for us in the courtroom. How long is this trial expected to run for?
That's right, So I'll be covering this case for the Herald's sun. I'll be in there every day. It's expected to run four to six weeks, and I'll be filing daily court reports both online and the newspaper, in addition to doing these weekly episodes with you, Laura.
Sounds like we'll be in it for the long haul. Now that it's in front of a jury, it's the first time we can talk about it. Just tell us why we couldn't really talk about it previously, just.
Because before it's put to a jury, we just have to be careful about what we report in case, you know, we tanked a jury with information that they're not necessarily going to be told in the trial. So it's just to ensure that mister Lynn gets a fair trial, everything run smoothly, that we really can only report what's been put before the jury.
Well before we dive into what happened in court today, can you just remind our listeners about this case and give them a broad overview.
Yep. Absolutely. So this case is really about three people, Russell Hill and Carol Clay. They were this elderly couple who were aged in their seventies. I mean they weren't actually a couple. They were childhood sweethearts who rekindled their relationship in two thousand and six and they secretly began seeing each other and they would go on these camping trips up to the high country to spend time together. Essentially, mister Lynn Greg Glenn is a former Jetstar pilot. He's
aged fifty seven. He lives in Caroline Springs in Melbourne's western suburbs with his family. And he was also a keen hunter and outdoorsman, and yeah, he would go out and you know, spend time out in the bush.
So when roughly did this all happen, It was at the heart of COVID, wasn't it.
That's right. So, just to give a bit more background on the case, the two groups were camping. So this is mister Hill missus Clay at one camp site and mister Lynn at another campsite in the Wanagata Valley in Victoria's Alpine Country high country in March twenty twenty just before sort of COVID retrictions came in. So it's agreed that they were both camping next to each other, and prosecutors allege that mister Lynn went and murdered the other
elderly campers and then he was charged with here. He was arrested in November twenty twenty one, about eighteen months after what's the alleged to have happened up there, and then he's been charged with their murders and then he's slowly been going through the courts and yeah, his trial started this week.
Here we are. So now we know a little bit about the accused and the deceased. Can you tell us about everyone else in the courtroom? Who's who in the zoo?
This trial has been held at the Victorian Supreme Court, which is a beautiful building in the center of Melbourne. Inside the court we've got a number of people. We've got the Judge Michael Croucher, or Justice Michael Croucher, and he's sitting at the bench, he's sitting above everyone else in front of him, sitting at the bar table. You've got the lawyers, so you've got Crown prosecutors. Daniel Portradiu and Catherine Hamill. Next to them are the defense barristers Dermott,
dankc and Michael McGrath. On the side of the court sort of facing towards the bar table, but also a little bit higher than everyone else so they can get a good view is the jury box. So there's fifteen people sitting in the jury box, which includes three extras just in case any are unable to sit through the trial for whatever reason, maybe illness or something like that. And then at the end of the trial, three of them will be balloted off randomly, so there's twelve left
to return a verdict. On the other side of the courtroom, again looking towards the jury box, is a section for the media, so there was more than I think seventeen or eighteen members of the media were in court today. And then at the back of the courtroom you've got the accused man, Greg Lynn, who's in the dock, and the dock is sort of raised a little bit. Upstairs, you've got the public gallery, which is where everyone else sits,
and that was absolutely packed today. I couldn't say exactly how many were up there, but it was pretty much standing room only. I think I did see a few people who were forced to stand during the openings, and that's where family members of both mister Lynn and mister Hill and Missus Clay were seated. I spotted mister Lynn's wife up there and one of Missus Clay's daughters.
Well, thank you for painting such a great picture for us of what actually happens in the court and who's sitting where in terms of the facts themselves, or rather we should say the allegations. The jury have now heard from the prosecutor and the defense barrister who have summarized their cases with their openings. But to break it down, can you tell us what is actually agreed between these two parties?
Yeah? Absolutely so. What wasn't in dispute is that Greg Lynn left his Caroline Springs home in March twenty twenty on a camping trip to the wan Agada Valley. He was driving a niss And Patrol, dark colored Nissing Patrol, he was towing a trailer, his license to carry a firearm, and he was a keen hunter. He interacted with several witnesses up in an area called Bucks Camp, and they're expected to give evidence at this trial about his movements
in the area. And there was no dispute that Russell Hill and Carroll Clay were also camping in the area around the same time, and they were also on a sort of camping trip. That's what's not in dispute. Really. What is in disput I mean there is a lot in dispute is what happened the events of March twenty, twenty twenty.
So what do the prosecution allege happened that day in the high Country? What is the crux of their case.
So the prosecution allege mister Lynn murdered mister Hill and missus Clay in the Wanagader Valley on the evening of March twenty, twenty twenty. They can't say what the exact circumstances that led to those killings were, but they believe there was a confrontation between mister Lynn and mister Hill, likely related to the usage of mister Hill's drone. They alleging that mister Hill was killed first. That's because they say missus Clay was very unlikely to have provoked a
violent confrontation. The prosecution can't say how mister Hill was killed, but they allege missus Clay was shot in the head, and then they say mister Linn went to cover up the murders by destroying evidence, taking their bodies, stumping them the bush, and returning at a later date as well to ensure those remains hadn't been discovered, and also burning those remains.
So what did the defense allege happened? It seems like the case has become one of murder or mishap.
That's right. So Dermot Dan k C. In his opening address to the jury said this case was about two accidental, tragic deaths that were not of mister Lynn's making nor of his choosing. So that's really outlining the defense case. The couple did die accidentally, but mister Limb was not responsible their deaths, and he certainly was not responsible for
their murders or manslaughter. So in his opening address, mister Dan said, mister Lynn went over to mister Hill's campsite sometime on March twenty, twenty twenty, and this is the account mister Lynn has given police, and so this is what they're using as their defense. He says, mister lin went over to mister Hill's campsite and asked him about his drone. In the conversation that followed, mister Hill voiced his concern his issues with deer hunting and being carried
out in the area. And of course we know mister Lynn was a deer hunter and mister Hill had actually earlier told mister Lynn about someone close to him being killed in a deer hunting accident. Now, after dinner time, this is what mister Lynn claims. He says mister Hill accuses him of hunting too close to the campsite and saying he's filmed him on his drone and he's going
to be taking that footage to police. Now, mister Len is annoyed by this, and he returns to his campsite and he turns up his car stereo and opens his door. And this is to annoy the other campsite, mister Hill and missus Clay at the other campsite. Now, he claims, around nine or ten pm, he's sitting around his campsite when he hears the noise around his car and he sees mister Hill walking away from his car carrying his shotgun,
mister Lynne's shotgun and a magazine of ammunition. Mister Lynn says he follows mister Hill and asks him to give it back. He aledges mister Hill then told him to f off, and when he caught up to him, he still tries to get it back, he says. Mister Hill loses his temper and fires the gun into the air. Mister Lynn says he then jumps for cover. He decides, you know, the safest thing to do is try and get this gun back. He tries to grab the gun and then there's a struggle between the two men. As
they fight over the gun. He claims his fingers were not on the trigger. The gun accidentally goes off. It strikes missus Clay in the head and she's killed pretty much straight away. So he takes the weapon back to his his own camp site just to make sure it's out of harm's weight. While that's happening, he sees mister Hill run towards him holding a knife, screaming she's dead.
Then there's a struggle between the two men, and during that struggle, the men fall to the ground and the blade goes into mister Hill's chest and kills him.
So what happened after that, according to mister Lynn.
So, mister Dan said his client was left with this terrible sort of scene where two people are dead and he doesn't know what to do, and he says he makes this terrible choice to conceal what had happened, so that involved taking items and putting them in the tent. This is mister Hill and missus Clay's tent and burning it,
and then he takes their bodies. He takes items from the car as well, which include cash, bank cards, mister Hill's drone, and then he takes their bodies and puts them in the trailer on the back of his car, and then he drives to an area called Union Spur Track, which is where he then dumps the bodies. Mister Lynn then returns home and after that point the state is plunged into lockdown. This is during the early stages of
COVID nineteen. As we all well remember, in May twenty twenty, he went back after lockdown just to check where the bodies were and to make sure they hadn't been found. He then also returns in November twenty twenty, in what mister Dan described as another terrible action and which mister Lynn himself tells police there was no excuse. He burns the bodies whatever remains were left. He describes being physically sick while he was depositing some of the remnants of
what was left of the fire into another spots. Dan says after his arrest, his client is very forthcoming to police and gives all that information about where they would find the remains. And on the defense case, he says he was being completely truthful and accurate and telling about the circumstances about how these two people died.
So we had the prosecution and defense openings today. Did we hear from any witnesses?
We did hear from a couple of witnesses. So the first one was a park's ranger also who works up in the Alpin National Park, and he was shown maps and different photographs of the area and he was setting the scene and describing different areas to the jury. And then we had another guy up and his name was Blair Anson, and he arrived at the Alpine National Park on March eleven, twenty twenty, so this is about nine days before the alleged murders. He was going deer hunting
with some mates. He was camping nearby mister Hill, So mister Hill was on a separate camping trip before he was allegedly murdered, and they were camping near each other, and they spoke to each other. They had some interactions with mister Hill, and he just spoke a little bit about those interactions. He said mister Hill asked him if he could a fly's drone, and mister Anson said, you know, that's the problem. He also described him gave a bit
about how he found him to be. He said he was a knock about sort of guy who was friendly and very approachable. He did describe one interesting interaction between the two despite that happening. He said he saw mister Hill chopping up some snowgums, so those beautiful eucalyptus trees up in the high country with a chainsaw and was
aware that it was illegal. He says, he asked him if he cared about parks in sort of relation to Park's Victoria Rangers and mister Hill, the court heard replied, I don't give an f and mister Anson just said it's stuck in his head. He thought it was a bit peculiar to hear this Oldish man reply in such a way. So yeah, it was just sort of an interesting description of this interaction that was had up in the high country a few days before.
So how many more witnesses are we expected to hear from over the course of the trial and what can we expect over the next few weeks.
So more than one hundred winnesses could be called. Not necessarily all of them will be called, but when a witness list was read out to the jury yesterday we heard more than one hundred names, and so that includes other campers, police family and forensic officers, park rangers, all sorts of people. We don't know exactly who's going to be up each day and we haven't been given a witness list, but either way, it's shaping up to be a very compelling trial.
Well, thanks Miles. Andrew will be back this Saturday for his regular show, and we'll be back next week with another bonus episode outlining all the latest in this trial. But Miles will be in called every day, so be sure to check the Herald Sun website and the paper for his daily updates. Thanks so much for your time today, Miles.
Thanks Laura, thanks for listening. Life in Crimes is a Sunday Herald Sun production for True Crime Australia. Our producer is Johnty Burton. For my columns, features and go to Heroldsun dot com dot AU Forward slash Andrew rule. One word. For advertising inquiries, go to news Podcasts sold at news dot com dot au. That is all one word news podcasts sold. And if you want further information about this episode, links are in the description.