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Friends of a man who was allegedly murdered while camping with his childhood sweetheart have told a jury about his secret relationship with the woman.
Russell Hill and Carol Clay had agreed to divorce their respective partners to be together but he backed out at the last minute, one of his friends told the jury.
Clay, 73, and Hill, 74, were camping together when they disappeared from Victoria’s Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020.
Greg Lynn is accused of killing the couple at Bucks Camp and then dumping their remains in brush on the Union Spur Track near Dargo.
The 57-year-old, who was a Jetstar captain at the time, pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and appeared in the High Court in Melbourne.
Robin Ashlin, a friend of Hill’s for more than 25 years, told the jury today that he first met Clay at a campsite in Timbara in 2019.
Ashlin had gone with his wife to visit another friend, James Francis, and Hill was also there.
He introduced Clay as his friend, but “blind Freddy could see the way they looked at each other,” Ashlyn said.
Ashlin never mentioned the meeting to Hill’s wife, but she later told him that Clay had been “on the scene” for more than 20 years.
The pair were childhood sweethearts, and Ashlyn found out that there was a pact between Hill and Clay to divorce their respective partners so they could be together.
“Carol divorced her husband, but Russell backed out,” Ashlyn told the jury.
He said he was shocked to learn of the affair because it seemed out of character for Hill.
“What to do with one on the side – one is enough trouble,” Ashlyn said.
Francis, who had been friends with Hill for a decade, said he met Clay several times while Hill took her on camping trips together.
He understood that Hill did not want others to know about the affair.
Both Frances and Ashlyn spoke to Hill on March 20 – the day the couple were allegedly killed – via amateur radio.
Hill was “like a pig in shit” and couldn’t be happier with the campsite in the Wonnangatta Valley, Ashlyn said.
Francis also told the jury that Hill appeared to be his usual self in their last interaction.
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