Erin Patterson trial: Phone linked to alleged poisoner ‘reset' four times

News.com.au

22-05-2025

A Samsung phone allegedly handed over by Erin Patterson was found to contain 'no usable data' after it was factory reset, a forensics officer told her trial.
Giving evidence at the triple-murder trial on Thursday, Victoria Police senior digital forensics officer Shamen Fox-Henry was quizzed by prosecutors on a Cellebrite report prepared for the phone.
He told the court Cellebrite was a digital forensic software and extraction tool used by the Victoria Police to analyse and examine digital devices.
Prosecutor Jane Warren suggested the jury would hear evidence later in the trial that the Samsung device was handed to investigators by Ms Patterson on August 5, 2023.
Her husband Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and aunt, Heather Wilkinson, fell ill and died from death cap mushroom poisoning after a lunch Ms Patterson hosted on July 29.
Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, also attended the meal at Ms Patterson's home but recovered after spending about a month and a half in hospital.
Ms Patterson is facing trial after pleading not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder – prosecutors allege the meal was deliberately poisoned while her defence argue it was a tragic accident.
Mr Fox-Henry confirmed the report stated the phone was examined by a cyber crime squad officer two days later on August 7.
He told the court the report indicated 'no usable data was extracted' from the phone.
Questioned by Ms Warren on why there was no data, he tells the jury 'based on this report, the device was factory reset'.
The jury was then shown the report which contained a table stating the phone was 'wiped locally by user' three times on March 12 at 4.53pm, August 1 at 11.09am and August 5 at 12.20pm.
A fourth entry stated the phone was 'wiped remotely by user' on August 6 at 5.16pm – when the device was in police custody.
Mr Fox-Henry is expected to continue giving evidence when the trial resumes on Friday.
At the start of the trial, Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC said it was alleged the Samsung phone handed to police was not her primary phone.
'Unbeknownst to police, the mobile phone which the accused eventually provided to police during the execution of the search warrant was Phone B,' she told the jury.
'Connected to the SIM for number ending 835, which the accused had set up on 3 August 2023, four or five days after the lunch.'
Ms Rogers told the court it was alleged Ms Patterson's phone records indicate she was still using her 'SIM for number ending 783 in Phone A' at the time of the police search warrant on August 5.
'This is the phone and phone number that the accused had been using since 12 February and throughout the period immediately preceding and during the lunch,' she said,
'This phone and SIM card have never been recovered by the police.'