When Carol Clay rekindled her relationship with childhood sweetheart Russell Hill she believed fate had decided they ought to be together. 

So when the couple vanished in the Wonnangatta Valley in Victoria’s Alpine region in March 2020, those closest to the couple believed it possible they had faked their own disappearance to live their best lives together a world away. 

In reality, their fates were sealed the moment they made the mistake of pitching their tent next to former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn, who was found guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria of Clay’s murder – but not guilty of Hill’s. 

Lynn was found guilty of Carol Clay’s murder, and not guilty of Russell Hill’s. They were in a secret relationship

Former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn pleaded not guilty to murdering the elderly campers. He was found guilty of Clay’s murder, but not Hill, on Tuesday 

In closing the prosecution case, Crown prosecutor Daniel Porceddu glanced over the relevance of the elderly couple’s secret relationship and whether it did or did not contribute to their deaths. 

Lynn’s own barrister Dermott Dann, KC later told the jury: ‘It’s not irrelevant.’

The former pilot claimed Ms Clay was dressed in her pyjamas when Mr Hill made the mistake of stealing his shotgun from the back seat of his Nissan Patrol.

He told the court the ensuing fight for control of the weapon led to the deaths of the elderly couple.

Lynn told police he had turned up his stereo to annoy Mr Hill after a previous confrontation about his drone.

‘He’s trying to have fun in bed and I was playing the music up loud and he’s lost his temper,’ Lynn said.

During the trial, Mr Hill’s long suffering wife Robyn Hill explained what she knew about her husband’s sordid relationship with his mistress. 

Part of that story delved into Mr Hill’s own personal struggles with depression.  

She told the jury Mr Hill came to be placed on anti-depressants after an incident in the mid 1970s in the bush where he worked in the logging industry. 

‘I’d have to say when he did go to hospital he had a very enlarged penis and it wouldn’t go down and that was part of the depression apparently,’ she told the jury. 

The court heard Mr Hill remained on and off anti-depressants in the years that followed up to the day he was allegedly murdered. 

Robyn Hill fronted the Supreme Court of Victoria where she was grilled about her husband’s secret life 

Russell Hill was about 187cms tall and weighed about 93kgs at the time of his death 

Ms Hill told the court her husband had long lied about his relationship with Ms Clay, who Lynn claimed was shot by Mr Hill in a tragic accident before he died by falling on a knife in the following struggle.

The jury heard Mr Hill was Ms Clay’s first boyfriend, but they had hooked-up again in the early 2000s. 

Ms Hill told the court she and her husband would go on holidays to Phillip Island with Ms Clay and her then husband oblivious to their secret relationship. 

She told the court she had known Ms Clay as long as her husband, who had told her Ms Clay was her first cousin. 

It was a lie Ms Hill only learned after she observed Mr Hill and Ms Clay behaving in ‘strange ways’, such as going on walks together on those trips away. 

The secret relationship was finally brought to a head when a neighbour of the Hills threatened to expose Mr Hill’s behaviour to his wife. 

The court heard Mr Hill confessed to the relationship, but assured his wife he would end the affair immediately – a lie he maintained up until his alleged murder. 

Ms Hill said she believed her husband was alone when he set off on his final camping trip into the bush. 

The jury heard Mr Hill had told his entire family he would be alone. 

The court heard Ms Hill had bought her husband a fresh box of anti-depressants along with cans of bourbon and coke and a bottle of Bundaberg rum for the trip. 

Greg Lynn claims Russell Hill attempted to steal his shotgun when he was forced to intervene in what became a deadly struggle

Police later found a label for the erectile dysfunction pill Viagra belonging to Mr Hill in the bathroom bin of Ms Clay. 

Ms Hill broke down in tears as she recalled how her husband continued to lie about his relationship with Ms Clay.   

Ms Hill said her husband enjoyed sitting by the campfire at night enjoying a few drinks. 

She told the court she had married him in 1969 and initially lived in Lilydale before moving to a flat in Nayook, east of Melbourne. 

Mr Hill had worked his life in the logging industry, where he hauled logs out of the bush with a bulldozer. 

He had helped make some of the very tracks he last drove upon in the Wonnangatta Valley where he died. 

Ms Hill said she too would camp with her husband in the same rugged areas where he took Ms Clay. 

‘When Debbie was very small we used to camp in a caravan up there around Christmas because he’d be putting tracks in,’ she said.  

Robyn Hill and her daughter Debbie both gave evidence during the trial

Ms Hill had lived with him in Drouin, in Melbourne’s south-east, at the time of his death. 

The court heard Mr Hill had taken up flying a drone during retirement where he liked to get an aerial view of the landscape below. 

She also spoke of his love for amateur radio and how he would talk to friends on it everyday. 

The court heard she briefly listened in on radio calls Mr Hill made in the two days before he died.

‘A lot of the time I didn’t listen to all that because it was just men’s business,’ she said. 

Ms Hill said her husband appeared jovial before heading out on what would be his final adventure. 

‘He was happy because he liked going up there. It’s a lovely place,’ she said. 

Mr Hill’s daughter Debbie Hill told the jury she knew of her father’s relationship with Ms Clay ‘a long time ago’. 

Like her mother, she remembered her father telling her he would end the relationship in the mid-2000s. 

Images obtained by police upon the initial search for the missing campers 

A witness has claimed Greg Lynn was camped in the area circled. Mr Hill’s vehicle was found about 30 metres from the river displayed

The Wonnangatta Valley, 비아그라시알리스차이 in Victoria’s Alpine region, where Russell Hill and Carol Clay were allegedly murdered 

Mr Dann told the jury the couple’s relationship remained an enigma to many of those who knew them. 

‘He’d been living a double life for a long, long time,’ Mr Dann said. 

He told the jury Mr Hill, who was described as a tall and fit man, was likely drunk and agitated when Lynn claimed he stole his shotgun. 

‘It was late at night. We say the inference is that Mr Hill was fuelled by alcohol,’ Mr Dann said. 

‘He’d only been there a couple of nights or one night before. He’s got the alcohol. He’s in the tent with Ms Clay and he’s got this person playing this loud music.’

Mr Dann reminded the jury about what Lynn told police about what he thought the couple were up to when he annoyed them that night.  

‘Mr Lynn says in his record of interview he thought they were having fun in bed. Now, is he making that up? Is he just making that up for the sake of it?’ Mr Dann said. 

‘It coincides with (what another witness) said that was his impression of the relationship. It was an intimate relationship. 

‘We have again to support Mr Lynn’s account, not that he could know, possibly know anything about this, we have the Viagra records that (a police officer) saw the prescription in the bin, obviously a recent prescription.

‘There’s some lighting still on at their campsite so they’re not asleep for the evening.’

On Tuesday, a jury could not conclude beyond reasonable doubt Lynn murdered Mr Hill, but found him guilty of killing Ms Clay.

CrimeDepression