Greg Lynn jailed for at least 24 years over ‘brutal, horrific’ murder of camper Carol Clay in Victoria’s high country

Former Jestar pilot Greg Lynn has been sentenced to a minimum of 24 years in prison for the 2020 murder of a 73-year-old camper in Victoria's high country.

In the supreme court in Melbourne on Friday, justice Michael Croucher sentenced Lynn, 58, to a maximum 32 years in prison for the murder of grandmother Carol Clay at a remote campsite in Victoria's Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020.

He could be eligible for parole after 24 years.

Croucher said Clay's death was a "very grave example of murder".

"It was a violent, brutal, horrific death, with a weapon designed to kill," he said.

"There is no suggestion that Mrs Clay posed any threat to Mr Lynn ... this was just a terrible thing to do."

Croucher said Lynn's crime was "aggravated significantly" by the fact Lynn concealed Clay's body, destroyed it and then refused to reveal the location for 20 months.

"Mr Lynn must have known that these actions, once revealed, would cause Mrs Clay's loved ones no end of grief and distress."

A jury in June found Lynn guilty of murdering Clay but he was acquitted of murdering her fellow camper , Russell Hill, 74, after a five-week trial.

Lynn's lawyers have previously indicated they will appeal against the conviction.

He had pled not guilty to two counts of murder, with his lawyers arguing in court that Clay and Hill were accidentally killed in a struggle involving a knife and a gun .

Lynn had admitted in court that, after their deaths, he had "panicked" and tried to destroy evidence, including by torching Clay and Hill's campsite and burning their bodies.

In a letter of contrition to Croucher that was read to the court on Friday, Lynn said he was "disappointed and perplexed" about the verdict but apologised for his conduct after the couple's death.

"I accept that my decision to flee the scene and attempt to disappear ... was selfish and callous in the extreme, causing family and friends of both Carol Clay and Russell Hill much grief and stress for 20 long months," Lynn wrote.

"I don't ask for forgiveness, I am simply sorry for what I have done."

Lynn was arrested and charged in November 2021, and has been in custody since.

The court previously heard Clay and Hill were having an affair at the time of their deaths.

The duo were childhood friends, and Hill was Clay's first boyfriend. In their 60s, the pair rekindled a relationship. Clay was separated from her husband but Hill was still married at the time of their deaths.

Croucher said Clay's friends and family had previously told the court she was "an adored grandmother", "someone who looked after her neighbours" and an "expert fundraiser for the less fortunate".

"No sentence this court could pass would lessen the grief or ease the pain of Mrs Clay's loved ones," he said.

"The sentence to be imposed is not a measure of Mrs Clay's life. It can't be."

Croucher choked up as he acknowledged Hill's wife and daughter, who he said were "left in an excruciating legal limbo" as a result of the verdict and cannot be recognised as victims of crime in law.

He said in addition to the loss of her husband, Hill's wife, Robyn, had "suffered the hurt and humiliation" of having his affair exposed.

Croucher praised both her and her daughter for giving evidence in the trial with "immense dignity".

"I think that just as one person to another, as a matter of common decency, I should acknowledge their plight, their agony, their suffering, and I do," he said.