Wrapped in a blanket and with a surgical mask over his face, former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn told the lies he hoped would one day set him free.
The 57-year-old was found guilty of the murder of elderly camper Carol Clay on Tuesday, but acquitted of the murder of her secret lover Russell Hill.
On Friday, the portion of his chilling police interrogation shown to the jury that convicted him was released by the Victorian Supreme Court.
The video, which was just a clip from Lynn’s four-and-a-half-day marathon interview, showed the pilot calmly telling what prosecutors would later describe as “well-rehearsed lies” to investigators.
Lynn had been given a duvet to brave the freezing temperatures in the interview room at the Sale police station, where Detectives Brett Florence and Daniel Passingham from the Missing Persons Unit questioned him in November 2021.
That’s where he wentDetectives told how Ms Clay was accidentally shot dead as he struggled with Mr Hill, who was then fatally stabbed.
Lynn had pleaded not guilty to the murders, which took place in the Wonnangatta Valley, in the Alpine region of Victoria, on March 20, 2020.
Greg Lynn faces life in prison for the murder of Carol Clay
Detective Sgt Brett Florence (right) and Leading Senior Constable Daniel Passingham questioning Greg Lynn after his arrest
The video recording shows Lynn recalling a fight with Mr. Hill that would have been fatal. They were fighting for control of a shotgun when it went off, killing Mrs. Clay.
The jury heard Lynn was walking towards Mr Hill when a skirmish over the firearm took place.
“I confronted him. ‘Give it back. What are you doing?’ and he said he was going to take it to the police,” Lynn said.
‘When I next approached him, at this stage he had the magazine in the shotgun, he pulled the action back and let a couple of rounds go into the air.’
Lynn claimed he was running for his life before sneaking out of the shadows towards Mr Hill.
“I stayed in the shadows and moved closer,” Lynn said.
‘To disarm him, I jumped up, grabbed the barrel of the gun with my right arm and turned to face him… I had my left hand on the butt and my right hand on the barrel, and we struggled.
“The shotgun was pointed this way and it fired. My hand was not on the trigger, it was on the barrel… it wouldn’t let go, it fired. It went through the left rear view mirror and killed Mrs. Clay dead.”
Lynn claimed he had hidden the shotgun when Mr Hill released it, but was confronted by him again moments later, armed with a kitchen knife.
“He comes at me with a knife in his right hand and a clenched fist in his left hand. He takes a swing with his left hand first, I blocked it,” Lynn said.
‘He swung out with his right hand with the knife, I grabbed his wrist and pulled my left arm over his right arm, he pushed me back to the ground and the knife went into his chest.
“He rolled over and when I got off of him he crawled a little bit and then he stopped moving. And I thought, ‘What do I do?'”
Greg Lynn calmly told detectives lies for days
Carol Clay was shot in the head before Mr. Hill died from a stab wound to the chest, Lynn alleges
Fire damage was noticed on Mr Hill’s Landcruiser. Lynn admitted to burning his campsite and later his body
Lynn claimed that he checked both campers for signs of life, but quickly discovered that they were both dead.
“And from here I panicked. You know, that’s my shotgun, one person dead, he’s dead now. And I’m being found guilty of this,” Lynn said.
The jury heard that Lynn moved quickly to cover up the bloody crime scene.
“It was a mess so I moved the tables and other stuff into the tent,” Lynn said.
The jury heard that Lynn set fire to the campers’ tent before carrying their bodies away in his caravan.
Lynn told police he had hoped to simply forget what happened in the bush and move on with life.
“I just wanted it all to go away and for me to move on and never think about it again, but that’s really not going to happen,” Lynn told detectives.
“I just tried to keep my head down and just get on with life and just forget about it. But it caught up with me.”
Lynn told police he wished he had come forward immediately after claiming the “tragic accident” had happened.
‘I wish I would have come forward now too, but I just wanted it to go away. No matter what happened, I was screwed.”
Lynn drew maps and diagrams for the detectives
Lynn eventually presented his version of events after days of interrogation. The jury didn’t believe him
The 12-gauge shotgun Lynn claims Mr. Hill stole from him before accidentally shooting his secret lover
The jury heard Lynn calmly describe what was left of the elderly campers after he returned to the crime scene months later to complete the removal of their bodies.
“The snow is gone. It’s November now and I thought, ‘I’ve got to get this done because I just don’t want to have to deal with it again,'” he said.
“I drove back there and just set them on fire. And there’s nothing there. You’ll see where it is, but you won’t find anything there. There’s nothing to bury. I’m sorry.
“That’s the truth and that’s the best I can give you. It won’t be much relief for the family. There is nothing to see, nothing to find.
“Go take a look. You’ll find evidence of the fire. It is what it is.”
On Tuesday, a jury found they could not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Lynn had killed Mr Hill.
But there was no doubt about Mrs. Clay.
Lynn returns to court next month for a pre-sentence hearing.