Greg Lynn sentenced to 32 years after being found guilty of the murder of missing camper Carol Clay

Former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn has been sentenced to 32 years in prison, learning his fate four months after he was convicted of murdering missing camper Carol Clay.

Justice Michael Croucher handed down the sentence in the Victorian Supreme Court on Friday as Mrs Clay’s family and friends watched on.

Lynn, 58, blinked and stared straight ahead as he learnt of his 32-year jail term.

Supreme Court Justice Michael Croucher said: “This is not, in my judgment, a case calling for a life sentence.”

Lynn will not be eligible for parole for 24 years.

He will be aged 79 when he is eligible for parole. If he serves his full sentence, he will be 87.

Justice Croucher described the killing as “violent, brutal and horrific” when he handed down the sentence on Friday.

“Burning the remains was an aggravating feature and showed Lynn’s moral culpability was high”, Justice Croucher said.

“This was just a terrible thing to do, hence my conclusion this is a very grave murder,” he said.

Justice Croucher noted the “profoundly moving” statements from Mrs Clay’s loved ones, who remembered her as a loving grandmother.

The judge also broke down in tears as he acknowledged Mr Hill’s family, including his wife Robyn.

While they were not considered victims in the eyes of the law due to acquittal, Justice Croucher said it was clear they were also in pain.

“As one person to another, as a matter of common human decency, I should acknowledge their plight, their agony, their suffering - and I do,” the judge said.

He also took into account that Lynn led police to the remains and apologised for his “despicable” actions after the murder.

The judge said that “tempered” the aggravating post-offence conduct, although only modestly.

Justice Croucher acknowledged Lynn would be a “vulnerable” prisoner, referencing an attack on him since his imprisonment and noted mitigating factors including Lynn’s apologies to victims’ families.

Lynn shot Mrs Clay in the head at a Victorian Alps campsite in March 2020, placed her body — and the body of her lover Russell Hill — into a trailer and then drove them to a remote bush track.

Lynn returned seven months later after the COVID-19 lockdown lifted to burn their remains into more than 2000 bone fragments.

The former Jetstar pilot maintained his innocence, claiming both deaths were accidental.

After a month-long trial, the jury found him guilty of murdering Mrs Clay but acquitted him over Mr Hill’s death.

Lynn continues to deny the murder but conceded he destroyed the couple’s remains and much of the campsite’s evidence.

At a pre-sentence hearing in September, prosecutor Daniel Porceddu had called for Lynn to be jailed for life for the “cold-blooded and callous” murder of a vulnerable elderly woman.

Lynn’s barrister Dermot Dann KC said the jury went down a “forbidden pathway” in delivering split verdicts, arguing there was no clear motive for the killings.

Mr Dann also flagged an appeal to Lynn’s murder conviction, claiming the prosecution conducted the trial unfairly and there were inconsistencies in the two verdicts.

- With AAP