Greg Lynn sentenced to 32 years after being found guilty of murdering missing camper Carol Clay

Former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn has been sentenced to 32 years in prison after learning his fate four months after being convicted of the murder of missing camper Carol Clay.

Lynn, 58, was sentenced in the Victorian Supreme Court on Friday morning after a jury found him guilty of Ms Clay’s murder in June.

High Court Judge Michael Croucher said: “This is not, in my judgment, a case which calls for a life sentence.”

Lynn will not be eligible for parole for another 24 years.

He acknowledged that Lynn would be a “vulnerable” prisoner, citing an attack on him since his captivity and noted mitigating factors including Lynn’s apology to the victims’ families.

He spoke for about 90 minutes, explaining the evidence in the case and how it led to his sentence.

After reviewing what had been submitted, Judge Croucher said he was unsure why Lynn chose to kill Ms Clay.

He shot her in the head at a campsite in the Victorian Alps in March 2020, placed her body – and the body of her lover Russell Hill – in a trailer and then drove them to a remote bush track.

Lynn returned seven months later after the COVID-19 lockdown was lifted to incinerate their remains into more than 2,000 bone fragments.

The former Jetstar pilot maintained his innocence and claimed both deaths were accidental.

After a month-long trial, the jury found him guilty of Ms. Clay’s murder, but acquitted him of Mr. Hill’s death.

Judge Croucher became emotional in court as he spoke about the “situation” of Mr Hill’s family, acknowledging the “state of limbo” they face following the acquittal.

Lynn continues to deny the murder, but admits that he destroyed the couple’s remains and much of the campsite’s evidence.

At a pre-sentence hearing in September, prosecutor Daniel Porceddu had called for Lynn to be sentenced to life in prison for the “cold-blooded and callous” murder of a vulnerable elderly woman.

Lynn’s lawyer Dermot Dann KC said the jury took a “forbidden path” in returning split verdicts, arguing there was no clear motive for the killings.

Mr Dann also appealed Lynn’s murder conviction, claiming the prosecution had conducted the trial unfairly and that there were inconsistencies in the two verdicts.