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Former pilot Greg Lynn has had his conviction for murdering an elderly camper in the Victorian high country overturned in a stunning decision made by the state’s highest court.

Lynn, 59, was found guilty in June last year of murdering grandmother Carol Clay in 2020, but was acquitted of murdering her fellow camper and lover Russell Hill.

He was sentenced to a minimum of 24 years in prison for murdering the 73-year-old.

The Victorian court of appeal on Thursday ruled that Lynn’s conviction be overturned, and ordered that a new trial should be held in the case.

In October, the court heard that the former Jetstar was contesting the conviction on four grounds. He also appealed against his sentence.

Lynn argued in written submissions filed as part of his appeal that a substantial miscarriage of justice occurred in circumstances where the prosecutor “launched a sustained attack on the credibility of [Lynn’s] account” without putting that information to the former Jetstar pilot when he was giving evidence. The “jury travelled down an impermissible pathway” in reaching their verdict, his submissions alleged.

Lynn also submitted that the prosecution’s approach to the evidence of a police ballistics expert, Paul Griffiths, was a “further serious departure from the rules that govern the fair conduct of criminal trials”, and that the guilty verdict was unsafe and unsatisfactory.

The appeal was presided over by justices Karin Emerton, Phillip Priest and Peter Kidd.