Greg Lynn’s path to prison has been halted, with the Court of Appeal overturning his murder conviction and ordering the case be run again.

The ruling was delivered in Melbourne last Thursday morning, with President Justice Karin Emerton, Justice Phillip Priest and Justice Peter Kidd finding that Lynn’s 2023 trial was marred by errors serious enough to undermine the verdict.

Their conclusion: a “substantial miscarriage of justice” had occurred.

The result: conviction quashed, retrial ordered.

Lynn, 59, was originally found guilty of murdering Carol Clay, 73, who vanished while camping in the Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020 with long-time friend Russell Hill, 74.

He was acquitted of murdering Mr Hill and sentenced to 32 years for the murder of Ms Clay, with a 24-year minimum.

But the appeal judges found the prosecution’s closing address and parts of its treatment of expert evidence strayed too far from acceptable practice.

In their written reasons, the justices said:

“Unhappily, we have concluded that the conduct of prosecuting counsel so compromised the fairness of the applicant’s trial that a substantial miscarriage of justice resulted.”

They added the conviction “cannot be permitted to stand”.

The hearing itself lasted minutes.

Lynn, a former airline pilot, walked into the dock just before 9.15am, short haircut, clear plastic document wallet in hand, looking more like someone waiting for a medical appointment than a man having his legal fate reset.

Members of the Clay and Hill families were in court.

Several cried softly as the outcome was read.

Detective Sergeant Brett Florence later said they were “devastated”.

Lynn has been in custody since his arrest in November 2021.

He has consistently maintained that both deaths were accidental, the result of a struggle with Mr Hill, and that his actions afterwards, including burning the campsite and disposing of the bodies, were attempts to cover up, not evidence of murder.

Poor decisions, he told police.

But not murder.

With the conviction gone, the case resets.

Lynn was remanded and is due back before the Supreme Court on 28 January.

He may seek bail.

Any new trial will deal only with the allegation that Lynn murdered Ms Clay.

His acquittal for the murder of Mr Hill cannot be revisited.

The prosecution has not confirmed what charge — murder, or a possible manslaughter alternative — it will pursue.

A retrial is unlikely to be quick.

A fresh committal, new rulings, and an extensive argument over admissible evidence lie ahead.

For now, Greg Lynn remains in custody, and, in legal terms, is presumed innocent until proven otherwise at a second trial.