By AIDAN KNIGHT

 

Warning: This story contains details some readers may find distressing

NEW details in the case of convicted killer Greg Lynn have surfaced, following the Victorian Supreme Court’s overturning of a suppression order.

This comes after several media outlets fought the court to publicise key items barred from circulation.

The items included were details into the death of Lynn’s first wife, Lisa, and his consequent dealings with police prior to the deaths of campers Carol Clay and Russell Hill in the Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020. Lynn was found guilty by a jury of murdering Ms Clay, but was acquitted of the murder of Mr Hill.

The 59-year-old former pilot began the appeals process last month, challenging the 32-year sentence that was handed to him on October 18, 2024. Not too dissimilarly, a media trinity of The Age, ABC, and Herald Sun appealed to lift the suppression order limiting their reporting, after the guilty verdict was delivered, which is not unusual, as it is usually deemed unnecessary to retain information after a trial has finished.

The magistrate opted not only to maintain the order, however, but also extended its content, now including information related to the death of Lynns’ first wife.

The media formally appealed this new imposition on their work, which Supreme Court Justice Peter Gray accepted, removing the suppression order, a decision he found to be “obvious”.

Now, in the midst of Lynn’s sentence appeal, the public is becoming aware of his dark past.

Justice Gray gave Lynn’s legal team 60 days’ grace between the order quashing and its actual formal removal, protecting the information should they wish to put forward a second application to withhold the information. This did not occur.

Eleven years prior to the High Country Killings, Lynn gave a police statement denying any involvement in the death of his late wife, who was found in a foetal position in her pyjamas, on the front lawn of her Macedon Ranges home, in 1999.

Toxicology revealed alcohol and barbiturates in her system to a lethal extent, and as a result, never considered her separated husband as suspicious in her sudden passing. The coroner found it unclear whether she intentionally took her own life or not.

Despite this, Lynn called his estranged wife for a matter of months before her death, late at night, telling her with great specifics how he would kill her. Phrases such as “there’ll be blood in the streets, (…) it’ll be full of your blood” were used as he informed the mother of his young boys that he would dismember her ears with swords (which he was confirmed to own). Such threats had been reported by both Lynn’s mother-in-law and Lisa’s nanny on a few occasions.

After her death, many more threats were found to be recorded in Lisa’s diary, quotes of graphic descriptions involving shotguns, and intimidating statements like “I know where your sisters live, I know how to get you”. According to Lisa’s family, these threats were only one aspect of Lynn’s abusive behaviour, which also saw him breaching intervention orders to break and enter her home. Victoria Police have record of Lynn using a sledgehammer to gain entry into the house, on one of two occasions of the order being breached, which led to it being extended to a five-year period.

Prior to this, he was alleged to have inflicted cruelty to animals and verbal abuse within the family.

After the second breach of the intervention order, not long before Lisa’s death, Lynn was arrested and escaped from custody when escorted by detectives back to the home to “retrieve some property” (as he said in the 1999 police statement). He ran into the bush and was arrested four hours later after being located when making a call from a nearby service station.

Barrister Demort Dann KC told the Supreme Court, when representing Lynn last year, “When they asked him to go and get it, instead of getting it, he just kept walking to the train station, and that was said to be the escape from custody”. He was almost convicted for this offence, but was only ultimately let off with a fine.

Lisa’s mother, Kim Searle, alleges that Lynn inflicted mental torture upon her daughter, making him responsible for her death, prompting detectives to launch a new investigation (which has been ongoing since 2021). Among other details, the investigation is exploring the possibility of whether or not her death was staged, among other circumstantial details that were described as “not making sense”.

This investigation was revealed to be halted by the police, according to the deceased’s family, because the authorities will not fund a $9000 expert report on the validity of that potential scenario. The coroner cannot undertake an inquest without this report, to support a new brief that was delivered to the coroner’s office this year. Lisa’s family claim they were happy to pay the fee themselves, but the police never responded to this.

The prosecution sought to raise information regarding his wife’s death at Lynn’s trial for the High Country Killings; however, the court did not allow it.

Greg Lynn now awaits a decision from the Court of Appeals for his sentence regarding the murder of Carol Clay.