Practically a 12 months earlier than former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn was arrested over the deaths of Russell Hill and Carol Clay, police had begun listening to him by covert recording gadgets.
These captured him speaking to himself and saying issues reminiscent of ‘They’re sitting on a seaside in f****** Queensland. Nudist seaside. Butt bare.’
Police had positioned a tracker and listening gadgets on his Nissan Patrol, and bugged his house in Caroline Springs, whereas they drip fed particulars on Mr Hill and Ms Clay’s disappearance to the media, hoping to catch him talking concerning the case.
Following intensive pre-trial hearings, Justice Michael Croucher barred important parts of proof, together with these recordings, from being put to the jury, discovering it had been obtained by ‘reprehensible’ conduct of some officers.
‘For my part, these failures are inconsistent with the minimal requirements which a society reminiscent of ours ought to count on and require of these entrusted with powers of regulation enforcement,’ he wrote in a scathing judgement three days earlier than Christmas.
Following the jury’s verdict on Tuesday, the place Mr Lynn was discovered not responsible of the homicide of Russell Hill and responsible of the homicide of Carol Clay, his utterances can now be revealed.
Driving alone on Might 4 2021, after a radio story concerning the couple’s disappearance, Mr Lynn stated to himself; ‘They’re sitting on a seaside in f****** Queensland. Nudist seaside. Butt bare. Taking part in on his f****** drone.
‘Working up and down the seaside. Taking photos of the younger individuals. Who’s acquired the largest d***?’
Practically a 12 months earlier than former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn (pictured) was arrested over the deaths of Russell Hill and Carol Clay, police had begun listening to him by covert recording gadgets
Former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn was pictured altering the color of his 4WD car
One other story concerning the couple had performed on the radio earlier that day as he was driving. The courtroom had heard Mr Lynn then turned up the amount on his radio and stated: ‘I put a f****** set off lock on it. You have gotta get a second set of set off lock f****** keys and stick them in there. … They’ve simply acquired to maintain pushing on a regular basis, do not they?’
The police had scoured by hours of recordings to search out situations the place they believed he was speaking about Mr Hill and Mrs Clay.
Mr Lynn appeared to debate the couple a number of occasions between December 15 and 16 2020, whereas on a solo tenting journey close to Howitt Plains.
Chatting with himself, he stated the next issues:
• ‘Let’s have a look at if the cops flip up. In the event that they do, we all know that they will put a tracker on it.’
• ‘f****** white individuals, that is all it’s who can we annoy now. Who can we annoy?’
• ‘Who decides what’s proper and what’s incorrect? That is the factor, judgment, decide does, the regulation does, the group does.’
• ‘Ballistics, you’d assume they might need samples of my ammo, you’d. Till that.’
Justice Croucher stated every of the Howitt Plains utterances and the recording concerning the set off lock had not been confirmed related to the case.
‘I contemplate it rationally not possible safely to construe any of those remarks as associated to Mr Hill and Mrs Clay,’ he stated.
‘The one means to take action is through hypothesis.’
He discovered Lynn’s feedback concerning the nude seaside could possibly be rationally linked to the couple.
Nonetheless, the recording was dominated inadmissable as a result of, because the prosecution case could be that he allegedly killed the pair 14 months earlier, it will drive the jury to invest on his sanity, and since the references to taking pictures and anatomy ‘dangers unfairly blackening Mr Lynn’s character for no rationally probative cause’.
The decide heard Mr Lynn had been first recognized by Victoria Police’s lacking particular person squad lower than three months after Russell Hill and Carol Clay vanished in March 2020.
(Left to proper) a courtroom sketch of former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn on the Supreme Courtroom of Victoria, and campers Carol Clay and Russell Hill
Melanie Lynn (left), spouse of Greg Lynn and Geordie Lynn (proper), son of Greg Lynn arrive at Supreme courtroom Melbourne
4 automated licence plate recognition cameras, arrange on both aspect of the Hotham Alpine resort to make sure guests paid entry charges, had captured him leaving the valley.
When police swooped in November the next 12 months, the avid camper had been the one suspect within the couple’s disappearance for about 16 months.
Other than a brief go to by detectives in July 2020, Lynn had no concept he was beneath surveillance.
‘Yeah, mate, you are not in any strife or something,’ Detective Sergeant Brett Florence advised him on July 14, explaining they have been ‘chatting’ with everybody within the area.
‘We have kind of expanded our search zone for attainable witnesses. So I simply needed to … simply ask you just a few inquiries to see … should you can assist us.’
The then-Jetstar captain supplied a press release about his journey, together with the dates he’d been tenting and the routes taken.
He claimed on the time to not have met Mr Hill and Mrs Clay in the course of the journey.
However detectives believed he was not telling the total story about his actions, and seen he had repainted his automotive – which Mr Lynn stated was a ‘Covid mission’ along with his kids.
He would later inform police he might have ‘appeared calm’, however inside he was panicking in the course of the trade.
By the top of the 12 months his cellphone, automotive and residential have been bugged as investigators collected 1000’s of recordings.
Closely armed officers from the Particular Operations Group arrived by helicopter and arrested Mr Lynn within the afternoon of November 22, 2021, at a campsite in Moroka Junction.
When detectives arrived on scene, he requested if the entire present was ‘actually needed’.
Final 12 months, investigators from the Lacking Individuals Squad advised the Victorian Supreme Courtroom they’d no plans to arrest him on the time, however his conduct on the drive up made them concern he deliberate to take his personal life.
‘I’ve a nasty feeling about what I’ve simply listened to,’ former Detective Senior Constable Passingham stated after he raised the alarm.
Police believed Lynn’s self-talk was ‘regarding’ and it appeared he was crying, however would later inform Justice Croucher maybe they misunderstood.
The shotgun used to homicide Carol Clay is pictured. Greg Lynn was discovered responsible of her homicide
Greg Lynn (pictured) claimed Russell Hill tried to steal his shotgun when he was compelled to intervene in what grew to become a lethal battle
A lot of what occurred as he was repeatedly questioned over the following 4 days, was stored from the jury after the decide discovered the investigators had at occasions engaged in ‘reprehensible’ oppressive conduct.
After a two-hour drive from the distant tenting spot to Sale Police Station, Mr Lynn spent 9 hours over the next 4 days sitting in an interview room with two detectives.
They repeatedly peppered him with questions concerning the deaths and pushed him to reply the questions.
After a cellphone name with a lawyer within the morning of November 23, he repeatedly declined to reply their questions however grew to become more and more determined as time went on.
‘My lawyer is telling me to say “no remark” to each single (factor) that you simply ask me. And but you come again and preserve asking query after query after query,’ he stated.
‘Can we please do it the best way (the lawyer) advisable to me? She’s the cavalry and I am in over my head.’
Each Sergeant Florence and Senior Constable Passingham have been discovered by the courtroom to have engaged in deliberate efforts to undermine his lawyer’s recommendation.
In a single instance, Senior Constable Passingham in contrast the lawyer to a ‘flight attendant’.
‘Yeah, however I would not say she’s the skilled. It would be like — be like a flight attendant telling the captain one thing,’ he stated.
‘The best way I take a look at it, that is the remainder of your life. So please assist me assist you.’
Detective Appearing Sergeant Brett Florence is pictured on the Supreme courtroom of Victoria
The Wonnangatta Valley, in Victoria’s Alpine area, the place Russell Hill and Carol Clay died
Every of the detectives would later inform Justice Croucher the arrest was ‘rushed’ they usually had not deliberate the interview, claiming they merely made dangerous selections in how they framed the questions.
‘The questions are dangerous and I ought to have stopped and reassessed,’ Sergeant Florence conceded.
Mr Lynn’s lawyer, Dermott Dann KC, argued the detectives had ‘flagrantly abused’ his consumer’s rights.
After 45 hours in custody, over two and a half days, Mr Lynn broke, saying he was going to ‘ignore my solicitor’s recommendation and inform you what occurred proper from the beginning’.
He supplied an account of how each Carol Clay and Russell Hill died – Mrs Clay by accident shot within the head as the 2 males wrestled over a gun.
Mr Hill, he stated, attacked him with a knife a short while later, resulting in his unintentional loss of life as the 2 males fell to the bottom.
Mr Lynn advised police he feared he could be blamed for the deaths and ‘panicked’, torching the camp website and disposing of the our bodies.
‘Look, the idea is that I am the villain. The truth is, ah, I feel I am the sufferer of all of this,’ he stated.
‘I am harmless of homicide. I’ve — I have never behaved effectively, I’ve made some poor choices. However homicide, as I perceive it, I am harmless of.’
On the fourth day, he led the 2 detectives to the place he had dumped and incinerated the our bodies, with forensic officers later discovering some private gadgets and greater than 2,100 bone fragments.
Investigators believed his account, which amounted to unintentional deaths and self-defence, was unfaithful and he was charged with two counts of homicide.
‘He gave that account, Your Honour, and there have been some issues inside that account that I felt have been incorrect,’ Sergeant Florence stated.
Earlier than Mr Lynn’s trial, Victoria’s Supreme Courtroom held intensive pre-trial arguments over a number of months concerning the admissibility of a lot of the proof prosecutors supposed to depend on.
Finally, Justice Croucher dominated in opposition to police and barred important parts of proof from being put to the jury, discovering it had been obtained improperly by their ‘oppressive’ conduct.
He discovered Mr Lynn’s first assertion to police on July 14, and a secret recording of the dialog, have been inadmissable as a result of any ‘competent rational detective’ would have thought-about him a suspect on the time.
A witness has claimed Greg Lynn was camped within the space circled. Mr Hill’s car was discovered about 30 metres from the river displayed
A picture provided in the course of the Greg Lynn trial by the Supreme Courtroom of Victoria is pictured
Police, due to this fact, ought to have cautioned and knowledgeable Mr Lynn of his rights however failed to take action.
Each detectives current on the time advised the courtroom they thought-about Lynn an individual of curiosity, not a suspect, however Justice Croucher discovered this was ‘untruthful’.
‘This proof additionally provides to my grave concern concerning the strategy of the Lacking Individuals Squad throughout this investigation to their obligations to warning and to advise suspects of their rights, and about their inaccurate and deceptive note-taking vis-a-vis suspects and individuals of curiosity,’ he wrote.
‘If this strategy has not ceased already, it must be stopped instantly.
‘For my part, these failures are inconsistent with the minimal requirements which a society reminiscent of ours ought to count on and require of these entrusted with powers of regulation enforcement.’
Equally, Justice Croucher dominated prosecutors couldn’t embody the elements of Mr Lynn’s interview they hoped to depend on after Sergeant Florence and Senior Constable Passingham admitted they’d ‘ridden roughshod’ over his rights.
Senior Constable Passingham, the decide heard, stop the drive quickly after he was grilled in the course of the pre-trial hearings.
Justice Croucher discovered the 2 detectives had intentionally and egregiously undermined the solicitor’s recommendation by a ‘withering barrage of oppressive and improper inducements’ to affect Mr Lynn’s choice to make admissions and reveal the situation of the stays.
‘I’ve little question that Detective Florence and Detective Passingham are first rate, succesful and hard-working members of Victoria Police who have been beneath nice stress to offer some consolation to the households of Mr Hill and Mrs Clay,’ he stated.
‘The problem, nonetheless, is that the way through which they pursued these goals will need to have important penalties.’
The ruling additionally barred prosecutors from utilizing parts of proof that flowed from the interview as fruit of the toxic tree, together with the invention of the stays and forensic testing.
Finally elements of the case have been allowed again in after Mr Lynn determined he needed his account of the deaths to go earlier than the jury.
Pictured is a picture obtained by police upon the preliminary seek for the lacking campers
A picture provided by the Supreme Courtroom of Victoria in the course of the Greg Lynn trial is pictured
Hours of the interview have been lower from the document, together with Mr Lynn’s declare to not have seen the campers, and an virtually four-hour video was performed to his jury in early June.
Justice Croucher additionally barred any materials from the listening gadgets from going earlier than the jury, discovering every failed ‘the check of relevance’ and posed a hazard of unfair prejudice.
‘I contemplate it rationally not possible safely to construe any of those remarks as associated to Mr Hill and Mrs Clay,’ he wrote.
‘For instance, if the references to cops, trackers, judges, ammo and little previous individuals are thought-about collectively, a juror may be capable of speculate that this all has one thing to do with the current case, however hypothesis is all it could possibly be.’
