A camper who came across the abandoned and burnt campsite of Russell Hill and Carol Clay has described the “alarming” scene in the Victorian supreme court.
Former airline pilot Gregory Stuart Lynn has pleaded not guilty to murdering Hill and Clay in the state’s alpine region in March 2020.
Nicholas Linden told the court he was camping with his 11-year-old son in the Wonnangatta Valley on 25 March 2020, when he came across an abandoned campsite.
The Toyota LandCruiser parked nearby appeared brand new, he said, apart from fire damage that had also affected a nearby tent.
He suspected the site may have been set up too close to a campfire and that an ember may have started the blaze.
Linden said he decided against camping another night in the area partly because of this discovery.
“We were comfortable enough to stay a night next to the campsite, but it was probably alarming for a young kid,” he said.
“It was definitely something a bit different.”
He said he had called out to see if anyone was there, but there was no response.
Linden said that, because it was something “you don’t see every day”, he decided to report the site to police. At the time, Hill, 74, and Clay, 73, had yet to be reported missing, but when they were, several days later, Linden said he again called police.
The trial also heard from other campers who had visited the valley in the days before and after the deaths, and from the first police witness to appear.
Andrew Marquardt – who also noticed the burnt out camp on 21 March 2020, the day after the court heard Lynn and Hill were killed – said he took photos of the site.
He said he also inspected an Esky, which he noticed contained food that had not spoiled.
The fire, which appeared to have destroyed part of the camp, was no longer burning, he said, and he could not smell smoke.
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Leading Sen Const Christopher Skiba, an officer based at Maffra police station, told the court about two searches he conducted in the valley, the second of which discovered the site on 28 March 2020. The couple had been reported missing two days earlier.
Skiba said he was told a spare key to Hill’s car was located between the cabin and the canopy, and he used it to unlock the vehicle.
He found it unusual that a wallet on the passenger seat did not have any cash inside, and believed bank cards were also missing.
Skiba also tried the ignition to determine whether there was any mechanical fault with the car that may explain why the site had been damaged or abandoned, and found the car was in working order.
Lynn’s lawyer, Dermot Dann KC, told the court last week that the deaths were the result of a tragic accident but that Lynn then “made a series of terrible choices” to conceal them.
The prosecutor, Daniel Porceddu, has said police did not know the exact circumstances or motive behind the alleged double murder at Bucks Camp, a remote site in the Wonnangatta Valley.
The trial will not hear any more witnesses on Monday, but Justice Michael Croucher told the jury he understood “we were well on schedule” to be completed as planned in four to six weeks.
The hearing continues.