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Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn described the alleged murders of camper secret lovers as another “chapter of life” before his dramatic arrest in the Victorian highlands.
Lynn, 56, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court this week charged with the murders of camper secret lovers Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73.
On Monday, the detective responsible for listening to 3,150 secret recordings captured from Lynn’s wagon, a blue Nissan Patrol that he later resprayed beige, revealed what Lynn said when police approached him.
Police allege that Russell Hill (pictured, right) and Carol Clay (left) were killed during a camping trip in March 2020
Greg Lynn, pictured in court last week, was questioned by police for four long days.
Russell Hill (pictured with his missing drone) is believed to have filmed campers in and around the area where he was allegedly killed.
Police Chief Detective Chief Daniel Passingham told the court that he heard Lynn pondering the alleged killings as she was driving into the Wonnangatta Valley shortly before her arrest.
“He expressed it while traveling across the high plains just before his arrest that day between Glenmaggie and Licola,” he told the court.
In court documents released last week, prosecutors revealed that homicide detectives had been investigating Lynn for about a year before finally arresting him in November 2021.
The Missing Persons Squad detective said police had made thousands of recordings of Lynn in her car in the 11 months before her arrest in the Victorian highlands.
“In what I had heard from the defendant, he had phrased it as a chapter in life,” Police Chief Passingham said.
The detective also claimed that Lynn had mentioned while driving alone in his vehicle that his “book had been written.”
“These are on the recordings that are taken while you are driving the Nissan Patrol,” he said.
Daily Mail Australia cannot report exactly what Lynn told police during their epic four-day interview record after Judge Brett Sonnet agreed to implement a gag order and a statement Lynn provided after another secret recording of the police.
What can be revealed is that the 3,000-question interview lasted an epic nine hours and 18 minutes, the longest Sr. Agent Passingham has ever conducted.
But it is an interview that may never go before a Victorian Supreme Court jury amid claims by Lynn’s defense that it is inadmissible.
Greg Lynn’s attorney, Dermot Dann, KC claims his client’s police interview record would be viewed as “explosive” by the public.
Last week, Lynn’s attorney, Dermot Dann, KC, described that interview as “explosive.”
“It’s just that these pieces of evidence can be a game changer in terms of how the prosecution will conduct the trial,” he told the court.
“They would potentially have such a huge impact on the way that trial is conducted… there are very real, very lively, very substantial issues with respect to those two pieces of evidence.”
The court heard that Lynn was held in cells at Sale police station without legal representation during the interview.
“They fed him, they gave him water, they put him to bed,” Police Chief Passingham told Mr Dann.
The court heard that the police had pounced on Lynn as she entered the rugged desert at 5:35 pm on November 22.
Following his arrest, Lynn had asked to make a phone call to his wife, flight attendant Melanie Lynn, who tuned in to Monday’s hearing via video link.
The request was allegedly denied and the police took Lynn back to the Sale police station for questioning while secretly recording it.
Lead Agent Passingham said Lynn did not have access to a lawyer until the next day, when she spoke with a lawyer for an hour and a quarter.
The charred remains of the Russell Hill camp after his alleged murder
While the content of the interview is to remain secret, it can be revealed that Mr. Dann was critical in the way the police interviewed his client.
Mr. Dann repeatedly questioned the professionalism of Chief Constable Passingham and questioned him about his knowledge of what a police officer can and cannot do while conducting an interview record.
Is that a standard practice of yours when an accused person says “look, my lawyer just told me not to comment”? So he says “wait, his lawyer is not in the room, he was not there when the events occurred?” are meant to have happened, it’s up to you”?’ she asked.
Principal Constable Passingham told the court that it was “not standard practice”.
“But given a person’s rights doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll stop asking them questions,” he replied.
Lead Constable Passingham said he suspected lawyers charged with representing people charged with serious crimes were actively working against the police.
Judge Sonnet asked the detective what he thought Lynn might have discussed with her lawyer before agreeing to be interviewed.
“I have no idea…that maybe the Victorian police are not to be trusted…requiring him to make no comment in regards to them, that they’ll take you down the garden path, that they’ll want to take you for a walk.” “. in a car, that as investigators they will do everything possible to get the truth,’ Police Chief Passingham told the court.
An image of what police believe Greg Lynn’s vehicle looked like when the alleged murders took place.
Greg Lynn had asked to speak to his wife Melanie (pictured) following her arrest in the high country
Earlier, police reconstruction expert Chief Police Chief Paul Griffiths told the court it was “plausible” that Clay was shot in the head by a bullet fired from the front of Hill’s LandCruiser.
Senior Police Chief Griffiths said he reconstructed a scenario in which Ms Clay was shot while standing or crouching near the passenger side mirror of the LandCruiser as two men, standing on the hood of the car, were fighting over a weapon.
Lynn continues to deny murdering the couple while they were camping in the Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020.
According to a summary of the indictment, investigators allege that Lynn argued with the campers before killing both of them.
“The circumstances of their deaths and the defendant’s subsequent conduct are consistent with the defendant having intent to cause death or at least cause each of them genuinely serious injury,” the indictment summary read.
The elderly camper, Ms. Clay, was allegedly shot in the head and killed when Mr. Hill tried to take a gun from Lynn, the court heard.
Lynn is then alleged to have stabbed Mr. Hill to death before burning their bodies and dumping them elsewhere.
The preliminary hearing continues.