Prosecutors are wrapping up their case against those accused in the murders of missing campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay

He was an avid amateur radio enthusiast and drone hobbyist.

Porceddu said Hill loves camping in the alpine region, especially around the Wonnangatta Valley, where he has worked most of his life.

Other campers described him as a friendly, talkative guy who loved to talk, he said.

His wife noticed that age was catching up with him and he was becoming sluggish as the years went by.

Clay was heavily involved in the Pakenham community and the Rural Women’s Association, where she was a past president. She first dated Hill as a teenager. The couple later resumed their relationship and went camping together.

Porceddu said Clay wasn’t a fan of camping, but he liked the beauty of nature.

One of her daughters described Clay’s relationship with Hill as loving and caring.

Porceddu said the defense conducted multiple interviews about the relationship during the trial. He told the jury that was “not an issue in this case.”

“You may have a view on this relationship, you may not… that’s not what this case is about,” Porceddu said.

Trial for now

Prosecutors maintain that Lynn, 57, who is charged with two counts of murder, killed the couple with intent to murder, possibly after a dispute over Hill’s drone.

Lynn denies the allegations and claims that both Hill and Clay died accidentally; Clay during a fight for a shotgun and Hill during another fight for a kitchen knife.

The defendant admits he then burned the blood-stained Bucks Camp and packed both bodies into his box trailer before driving them to a second location, the Union Spur Track, north of Dargo.

He returned to second place twice, including: in November 2020 to burn the remains.

Landing

After his arrest in November 2021, Lynn told police he did so because he feared he would be wrongly accused of the death.

Last Thursday, after 16 days of testimony from more than 40 witnesses, Lynn testified in his own murder trial.

He told the jury that while his actions after death – including burning human remains – were “despicable”, he maintained that Hill and Clay died as a result of an accident.

The prosecutor’s office is scheduled to sum up the case before the jury today.

Closing arguments from the defense will be presented in the coming days before jurors are sent to deliberate on the verdict.

More to come.

A new podcast from 9News, The Age and 9Podcasts will follow the court case as it unfolds. The Missing Campers Trial is the first podcast to follow a real-time jury trial in Victoria. It is presented by Nine reporter Penelope Liersch and Age reporter Erin Pearson.