He said it appeared a fire had been lit in the indented clearing, and the remains of the fire then moved to the second location near the tree base.
Xydias, who specialises in investigating fatal fires, explosions and bushfires, took the jury through photographs of both sites, pointing out the bone fragments uncovered, some blackened by the fire.
Remains of fire debris can be seen at the base of the tree, after police reopened the scene to the public.Credit: Jason South
“Effectively, it was hands and knees across this location,” Xydias said.
“We then ran instruments over the site and then following that heavy equipment came through.
“The top six to 12 inches of soil was removed and sieved over days.”
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Under the tree, he said they found a significant amount of heat-affected biological matter including bone remnants, several teeth and the partial remains of an older type of wristwatch.
At the second site, where the fire is believed to have occurred, the scientist said remnants of the blaze were still visible a foot down from the topsoil.
Greg Lynn, a 57-year-old airline pilot, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Hill and Clay at Bucks Camp in the Wonnangatta Valley on March 20, 2020.
Lynn’s legal team says the pair died accidentally, while the prosecution alleges Lynn, a hunter, killed them with murderous intent.
Hill and Clay’s campsite, including Hill’s white ute, was torched by Lynn, who bundled their bodies into his trailer and drove them out of the valley.
The burnt Wonnangatta campsite shown to the jury.Credit: Victoria Police
Lynn’s legal team does not dispute that their client moved the bodies and later burnt them at Union Spur Track.
They say this was done amid a series of terrible choices, in the aftermath of the two accidental deaths, as they pilot feared his life would be “screwed” and tried to make the disaster go away.
On Thursday, in questioning Xydias, defence barrister Dermot Dann, KC, told the jury that in Lynn’s police interview he said he had used a small amount of kerosene to deliberately start the second fire to burn the bodies at Union Spur Track, in November 2020.
Dann said his client told police he then used a dustpan to deposit the remnants of that Union Spur Track fire in a second spot close by.
The trial continues.
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 jury trial in real time in Victoria. It’s presented by Nine reporter Penelope Liersch and Age reporter Erin Pearson.