‘First cousin’, ripped up Viagra label: How missing campers kept decade-long affair a secret as ex-pilot’s double murder trial continues

For most of their 50-year long marriage, Russell Hill’s wife believed Carol Clay was his cousin, even going on holidays together with their respective partners.

In reality, they were childhood sweethearts whose teenage romance had rekindled into an affair later in life.

This week, the trial of their alleged killer, former Jetstar captain Greg Lynn, heard shocking allegations about their relationship and the alleged lies told to keep it quiet, before their disappearance turned their secret into front page news.

Mr Hill and Mrs Clay vanished while on a camping trip in Victoria’s remote Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020.

Prosecutors allege Mr Lynn killed the pair in the evening of March 20, while the former pilot argues their deaths were accidental and he made “terrible choices” to cover them up.

Russell Hill’s wife Robyn told the jury her husband seemed happy as he left home the morning of March 19, telling her he was going camping alone and wasn’t sure for how long.

Instead he drove from their Drouin home to the Melbourne suburb of Pakenham, picking Mrs Clay up for the trip.

The jury heard the Hills had first met in 1968 and tied the knot two years later.

Mrs Hill said she’d met Ms Clay about the same time, with Mr Hill describing her as his “first cousin”.

For decades she believed they were related, even going on a few holidays with Mrs Clay and her then-husband, Lynton, in the early 2000s but began to feel something was “strange” when the two would go off for walks alone.

The truth came out, Mrs Hill said, when a neighbour, Jill Robinson, gave her husband an ultimatum to tell her of the affair or she would.

The jury was told Mr Hill came clean and promised to end it — Mrs Hill believed he had until the couple disappeared.

Senior Constable Amey Frost, who led the police investigation into the missing couple in the weeks after, told the jury she visited Mrs Clay’s home in early April to speak with her family.

There, she said, she discovered a “ripped-up” label for Mr Hill’s Viagra prescription in her bathroom bin.

One of Mrs Clay’s daughters, Emma Davies, gave evidence this week that her mother had been in a secret relationship with Mr Hill for about 14 years.

“They’d known each other from childhood, Russell was my mother’s first boyfriend,” she said.

“She said it was a very caring, very loving relationship.”

Ms Davies said she was aware Mr Hill’s family did not know about the relationship and the pair would often go camping together.

“She wouldn’t describe herself as a camper, but no, she appreciated it, she appreciated being outdoors,” she said.

Louise Heib, a friend of Mrs Clay, told the jury the pair’s relationship had ended when they were teenagers because “Carol started to get serious”.

“It devastated her,” she said.

“I think he was her first love, if I remember correctly.”

She said the pair had met again many years later and “it flared back up”, something she encouraged Mrs Clay to pursue.

”I told her; ‘everyone deserves love so just go for it’,” Ms Heib said.

“The kids on both sides of Carol and Russell knew about the relationship. I’m positive she told me that.”

Ms Heib told the jury Mrs Clay was divorced but she was told Mr Hill did not want to leave Robyn “because she was not a well lady”.

“I think Carol liked the situation. I don’t think that worried her. She was quite independent,” she said.

Two friends of Mr Hill told the court they were aware of the relationship, but others said it was a surprise, describing Mr Hill as a “private” person.

Rob Ashlin told the jury he’d met Mrs Clay once, with Mr Hill introducing her as a friend.

“Blind freddy could see how they looked at each other — there was a relationship or there was a bit more going on,” he said.

Mr Ashlin later told police Mrs Hill had confided in him that Mrs Clay had been “on the scene” for about two decades after the couple were reported missing.

“It was something about Russell that I’d never ever thought of,” he said.

“You’re thinking about a bloke around his 60s, 70s ...what’s the go with ... one on the side. One’s enough trouble.”

Another friend, James Francis, said he’d first been introduced to Mrs Clay while camping with the pair for about two weeks in 2019.

“I’ll be bringing a woman with me and she’s not my wife, is that OK?,” he told the jury Mr Hill had asked.

Prosecutors allege Mrs Clay and Mr Hill were killed by the airline pilot “deliberately and without lawful justification” after a confrontation, likely with Mr Hill over his drone.

The pair had set up camp near Mr Lynn at Bucks Camp in the Wonnangatta Valley the day prior, the jury heard.

It’s alleged Mr Hill was killed first by unknown means, with Mrs Clay shot in the head soon after as a witness to the first slaying.

Through his barrister, Mr Lynn has claimed Clay was accidentally shot in the head as the two men wrestled over his gun.

Hill had earlier confronted Mr Lynn for deer hunting too close to camp and snatched his gun, defence barrister Dermott Dann KC told the jury.

On his account, Mr Hill died after approaching Mr Lynn with a knife, falling on it accidentally as they fought a second time.

The trial before Justice Michael Croucher continues.