Police witness is accused of lying and plotting to disrupt double murder trial of Jetstar pilot alleged to have killed secret lovers

A police witness has been accused of lying and plotting to disrupt the trial of the double murder of former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn with a ‘half-baked’ theory.

During cross-examination of Victoria Police forensic officer Mark Gellatly on Thursday, defense barrister Dermot Dann KC suggested Mr Gellatly’s evidence the day before was a “blatant breach” of his duty as an expert to give impartial evidence.

On Wednesday, the jury heard that the DNA expert was asked to test Lynn’s Barathrum Arms SP-12 shotgun for blood in March 2022.

Mr Gellatly said there were no traces of blood on the outer surface, but “reddish-brown stains” had been removed from the inside of the vessel.

“We have a theory, or there is a known phenomenon with firearms: when they are fired, they create a vacuum in the barrel, which allows blood to be drawn back in,” he said.

Mr Gellatly said a “very partial” DNA profile had been obtained from one source, but it was insufficient to compare with existing profiles for Russell Hill, Carol Clay or Lynn.

The officer was questioned at length about this by Mr Dann, who noted in Mr Gellatly’s statements and the 360 ​​pages of notes that he had not mentioned the ‘vacuum theory’ nor informed the defense that he intended to to name.

“Don’t you see that making up a three-week murder case is completely inconsistent with your obligations as an expert witness?” He wondered.

“They seem like half-baked theories that lead nowhere.”

Mr Gellatly responded that he had made it clear he was not a ballistics expert, claiming he only mentioned the theory to explain why he had sampled the barrel of the gun.

The jury was told that only one of the 42 DNA locations was present in the barrel of the shotgun, and the officer now agrees that the staining could have been gun oil.

Mr Dann suggested he had discussed this with prosecutors earlier this week.

The jury heard that the officer had initially denied it had ever been discussed when he was questioned in the morning, but now said he could not remember if the subject was raised.

“I say you’re lying,” Mr. Dann replied.

“You think if you admit you talked about it, it will look bad for the prosecutors.”

“No,” said the officer.

Russell Hill and Carol Clay were both killed

Mr Gellatly had ‘zero’ training in vacuum theory other than being aware of the theory’s existence, the jury heard.

Mr Dann suggested the theory had ‘absolutely no relevance’ to this case, in which Lynn had told how the gun accidentally misfired and killed Ms Clay from 3-4 meters away.

“Whose idea was it to put forward a theory that you didn’t understand?” he said.

Mr. Gellatly responded with, “I have no idea.”

Earlier, during his examination in chief, the forensic officer told the jury he had been asked to examine the inside of the canopy of Mr Hill’s Toyota LandCruiser in February 2022 for the ‘possible presence of blood’.

In a passenger-side compartment, he said he found six small “visible” bloodstains and three “jelly-like” grease deposits.

He told the jury that tests could not confirm that the spots were blood, but his conclusion was that they were “most likely blood, noting that tests can give a false negative result if affected by heat.”

Testing of one stain and one fatty deposit yielded DNA samples with “extremely strong support” for the contention that it came from Mrs. Clay.

Mr Gellatly said the splatter analysis indicated that “some kind of powerful event” had occurred, but there was not enough information to say anything about the mechanism.

“Other than the odd gust of wind… I think the event happened before,” he said.

Lynn, 57, is on trial in the Supreme Court of Victoria after pleading not guilty to charges he murdered Mr Hill, 74, and Ms Clay, 73, on the evening of March 20, 2020.

The elderly couple disappeared during a camping trip in the remote Wonnangatta Valley. Their remains were discovered more than 20 months later under a fallen tree in bushland, the jury was told.

The jury was shown photos of the stain on the internal partition wall. Image: Supplied / Supreme Court of Victoria

Prosecutors allege Lynn killed the pair, probably after a confrontation with Mr Hill, while the former pilot has asked the jury to accept they both died in tragic accidents.

Early in the trial, Mr. Dann told the jury that his client had told them that Ms. Clay had been accidentally shot in the head while the two men struggled over the gun.

He said that after his arrest, Lynn told police that Mr Hill had come at him with a knife shortly afterwards, but fell on the knife and died.

Jurors were sent home for a ‘long weekend’ shortly after 3.30pm as Judge Michael Croucher said there were no more witnesses available this week.

He said the next witness the prosecution had wanted to call was the informant, Detective Sergeant Brett Florence, but he was a “thug”.

“You may have noticed that Detective Florence was not present this week,” Judge Croucher said.

‘He is in the process of overcoming his illness and has been given a medical clearance until the weekend. We expect him to be here on Monday.”

Judge Croucher told jurors the trial, estimated to last six weeks, remained “ahead of schedule.”

The process continues.