<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>331247</docID> <postdate>2024-10-18 15:10:10</postdate> <headline>Greg Lynn to appeal after 32-year sentence for murder</headline> <body><p><img class=" wp-image-331249" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20240624176922870521-original-1.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="400" /></p> <caption>Pilot Greg Lynn who's been jailed 32 years for murder has already instructed his lawyers to appeal. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p class="wire-column__preview__author"><span class="kicker-line">By <b>Tara Cosoleto</b> in Melbourne</span></p> <p><strong>Airline pilot Greg Lynn has reaffirmed plans to appeal after being handed a 32-year jail term for murdering missing camper Carol Clay.</strong></p> <p>Gasps rang out across the packed Victorian Supreme Court room as Justice Michael Croucher handed down the prison sentence on Friday afternoon.</p> <p>Lynn, 58, blinked and stared straight ahead as he learnt his fate. He will be eligible for parole after 24 years.</p> <p>A jury in June found Lynn guilty of shooting Mrs Clay in the head at a Victorian high country campsite in March 2020.</p> <p>He then placed her body - and the body of her lover Russell Hill - into a trailer and then drove them to a remote bush track.</p> <p>Lynn returned seven months later after the COVID-19 lockdown lifted to burn their remains into more than 2000 bone fragments.</p> <p>The former Jetstar pilot maintained his innocence, claiming the deaths of both Mrs Clay and Mr Hill were accidental.</p> <p>After a month-long trial, the jury found him guilty of murdering Mrs Clay but acquitted him over Mr Hill's death.</p> <p>In handing down his sentence, Justice Croucher described the murder as a grave attack against a defenceless 73-year-old woman.</p> <p>"It was a violent, brutal, horrific death, effected with a weapon designed to kill," the judge said in his sentencing remarks.</p> <p>Burning the remains was a significant aggravating feature and showed Lynn's moral culpability was high, Justice Croucher said.</p> <p>"This was just a terrible thing to do, hence my conclusion this is a very grave murder," he said.</p> <p>Justice Croucher noted the "profoundly moving" statements from Mrs Clay's loved ones, who remembered her as an adored grandmother and tireless advocate.</p> <p>The judge also broke down in tears as he acknowledged Mr Hill's family, including his wife Robyn who was seated in the courtroom.</p> <p>While they were not considered victims in the eyes of the law due to acquittal, Justice Croucher said it was clear they were also in pain.</p> <p>"As one person to another, as a matter of common human decency, I should acknowledge their plight, their agony, their suffering - and I do," the judge said.</p> <p>He also took into account Lynn had led police to the remains and apologised for his "despicable" actions after the murder.</p> <p>The judge said that "tempered" the aggravating post-offence conduct, although only modestly.</p> <p>Lynn's prospects of rehabilitation were also reasonable and the sentence should not be crushing, Justice Croucher said.</p> <p>But the jail term should justly reflect the seriousness of the crime and deter others from committing murder, the judge said.</p> <p>As he was leaving court, Lynn's barrister Dermot Dann KC confirmed his client's plan to appeal.</p> <p>Mr Dann told the court in July the conviction would be appealed, claiming the prosecution had conducted the trial unfairly and there was inconsistency in the jury's two verdicts.</p> <p>"There's nothing to say today, we'll just wait for the Court of Appeal," he told reporters on Friday.</p> <p>"We have 28 days to lodge the appeal and we're instructed to lodge that appeal against conviction so we'll just have to see how that goes."</p> <p>The case's lead investigator Brett Florence gave reporters a thumbs up, while the Hill and Clay families chose not to comment to reporters.</p> </body>