‘Openly admitted': Former inmate reveals Erin Patterson's prison threat to estranged husband
The mushroom cook killer, who poisoned three of her in-laws with a beef wellington dish laced with death cap mushrooms, is by all accounts quite chatty behind bars.
One former inmate who shared a unit with Patterson at Melbourne's maximum security women's prison says the 50-year-old wants to be the 'centre of attention'.
'She's intelligent but ... she is entitled, arrogant, demanding and rude,' the former inmate told news.com.au this week.
Locked up with Patterson for more than a year, the ex-prisoner kept meticulous diary notes. One in particular stands out.
Dated the 27th of July, 2024, the note makes mention of Patterson's estranged husband Simon and how she really feels about him.
'Erin hates her ex-husband and openly admitted — she has made comments about no matter how long she gets (in prison), she will kill him,' the former inmate said.
During Patterson's marathon trial, before a jury found her guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, text messages between the former couple were tendered into evidence.
Erin Patterson's online messages were also tendered into evidence, including one where she wrote that Simon's mum should be 'horrified' that 'her son is such a deadbeat'.
The pair had separated in 2015 but spent much of the following years maintaining an amicable relationship.
Continuing to co-parent their two children, the couple remained friends and attended family events together. They even took family holidays.
But, the jury was told, their relationship began to sour in the latter half of 2022.
According to the former Dame Phyllis Frost Centre inmate who spoke to news.com.au, Patterson was truly resentful during her time in prison.
News.com.au on Monday shared details from inside the Murray Unit at the female prison on Melbourne's outskirts.
Those details included an alleged poisoning incident that saw Patterson moved from the unit. A subsequent search of her cell recovered two bottles of mayonnaise and a chemistry book full of notations on natural remedies, the former inmate said.
'This is something I wrote in my notes,' the former inmate told news.com.au. 'I was talking with (another inmate) and asked if I could borrow her mayonnaise.'She just laughed and joked about me 'poisoning it like Erin Patterson did'.
'I was like 'What the f***?' and she told me the story about how prison officers found mayonnaise in Erin's room that was allegedly used to poison (one of the inmates).
'She went to medical and was vomiting everywhere. She was saying that the mushroom lady's cell was searched and they found chemistry books with pages tagged.'
The former inmate kept a diary note dated the 29th of July, 2024. In it she writes that prison guards found 'two bottles of mayonnaise in Erin's clothes basket' when they searched her room.
A justice department spokeswoman said: 'There is no evidence to support that there has been any contaminated food or suspected poisonings at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre.'
But the former inmate who spoke to news.com.au said the incident '100 per cent happened'.
During her time with Patterson, the former inmate said the 50-year-old was 'hated'.
'She will need to be monitored by staff constantly. Nobody gives a shit about what she's done. They hate her because she's entitled, arrogant, demanding and rude.
'With Erin, she is constantly seeking special treatments, asking for things out of the ordinary that other prisoners wouldn't get.
'She is super intelligent, likes to make people feel like they're dumb. She is very manipulative. She gets fixated on things and doesn't see the mistakes that she makes. She mimics and makes fun of people, looks down at people.'
The former inmate compared Patterson to Malka Leifer, the sex predator and former headmistress of the ultra-Orthodox Addas Israel school in Melbourne who is in a cell near Patterson's.
News.com.au exclusively revealed earlier this year that Leifer was being given perks in prison that no other inmate was getting.
'Some things I can't even explain to you. If she wants something, she gets it. She wanted an airfyer and had members of the Jewish community to write authorities about it. She gets whatever she wants.'
The former inmate said Leifer has the ability to bake challah — a braided bread that the Jewish community eats for Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, which is observed every Saturday.
Patterson will be sentenced after the court reconvenes next month. In the meantime, she will take up a job behind bars.
'Likely textiles,' the former inmate said, noting that Patterson has been spending her time knitting gifts for her two children on the outside.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
8 minutes ago
- ABC News
Western Sydney Airport official who sought $200k kickback narrowly avoids jail time
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has claimed its first scalp with the sentencing of a corrupt Western Sydney Airport official who asked for a $200,000 kickback. Sajish Erasery pleaded guilty to soliciting a corrupt commission after he attempted to invite a bribe from a company vying for a $5 million contract to provide automated parking systems at the soon-to-be completed airport. The anti-corruption watchdog found the former executive procurement manager had initially proposed he could "get the deal over the line" if he received $250,000, which equated to 5 per cent of the contract's value. The NACC said in a statement Erasery later reduced this figure to $200,000 and suggested a scheme to repay the business by inflating invoices. The Australian Federal Police arrested the man in March 2024 after his former employer referred the matter to the commission. He has been sentenced to two years' jail, which will be served in the community and require him to complete 500 hours of community service. The airport is due to be complete in 2026. Erasery is the first person to be sentenced following an investigation initiated by the NACC. Since the watchdog's inception, there have been convictions in nine other cases which were inherited from the former Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity in July 2023. The latest of those cases involved Anne McCann, a former Department of Home Affairs immigration officer, who abused power in public office by approving a visa application for her brother-in-law. Both matters were prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
ABC News
8 minutes ago
- ABC News
Man on the run after shooting in St Arnaud
A man is on the run after a shooting in the western Victorian town of St Arnaud between Bendigo and Horsham. Police say a man was shot by another man at the property in Kings Avenue about 7:30am today. One man was flown to hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound. Authorities believe the two men are known to each other.
News.com.au
17 minutes ago
- News.com.au
‘Taking the mick': Tradie furious at bank's refund after losing $17,000 to scammers
A tradie who lost $17,000 in an elaborate spoofing scam has been left feeling mocked after receiving a letter from his bank. Bradley Turner runs a micro cementing company called Pure Deco, and he is still reeling from falling victim to a scam in June of this year. The 33-year-old lost almost $17,000 after transferring money because a scammer hacked into an established text chain he had with ANZ, making him believe he needed to move his money to avoid his account being drained. The tradie has maintained that the bank needs to reimburse the money because the hacker was able to infiltrate the text chain he had with the bank. Mr Turner claimed that ANZ initially closed the case without offering to return any of the funds but, after he complained, agreed to re-open the case. He has now been left furious once more after receiving a letter from ANZ, which has seen, revealing the low amount the bank was able to recover. '$1.86 has been recovered as a result of the process and we've credited this amount to the relevant accounts,' the letter read. The letter did not explain how ANZ came to $1.86 figure, or why the bank could recover this amount but not the almost $17,000 that was lost. has reached out to ANZ for comment. The letter also claimed that, while Mr Turner is a 'valued customer', the bank would not be reimbursing him further. 'There are no other steps ANZ is able to take to try and recover these funds. While you're a valued customer we will not be making a payment to you for the remainder of your loss in these circumstances.' Mr Turner told that hearing he was getting less than $2 dollars back after waiting for months for a final response was devastating. 'I felt horrendous, like they're taking the mick,' he said. 'I've been waiting for that money, and then they tell me, I can get $1.86? It is like they're throwing it in my face.' Mr Turner said it is 'annoying' and he is frustrated that the bank is claiming it is a telecom issue, because he feels it is the bank's responsibility to ensure their texting streams cannot be hacked into. The tradie maintains that he never would have fallen for the scam if it weren't for the fact that the messages appeared in an established text chain he had with ANZ. '(The scammers) are putting you in a position where you believe it is ANZ,' he said. Scammers are becoming more sophisticated and can now use state-of-the-art technology to 'spoof' numbers and get into established texting threads. Mr Turner ended up in this mess because he received a text that appeared to be from ANZ, which he believed to be legitimate because it appeared in an already-established message chain. The message alerted him that his voice ID had been updated and that if he didn't request this change, he should contact the number provided immediately. The 33-year-old panicked because he hadn't updated any verifications with the bank and it was for his business account. The tradie insisted he never would have rung the number if he had just received a text message from a random number, but because it appeared to be from ANZ on his phone and was alongside other official messages, he fell for it. Mr Turner called the number and was instructed by the scammers, whom he believed were ANZ staff, to transfer lump sums into a new secure account because he was being hacked. Mr Turner transferred two separate payments, one totalling $16,941 and another payment of around $7000, to a new bank account. After his panic subsided and he hung up from the phone call, it occurred to him that it may have been an elaborate scam. He contacted ANZ only an hour and a half after making the transfers, but it was already mostly too late. ANZ was able to stop the $7000 transfer, but the almost $17,000 sum was already with another bank. When originally covered Mr Turner's scam horror, ANZ said in a statement that the bank always tries to recover funds. 'However, the ability to recover funds depends on a number of factors including how quickly it is reported to us, whether they are transferred to another financial institution, and the speed in which funds are then on-transferred by scammers,' the bank said. 'In many instances, cyber criminals on-transfer funds within minutes, or use them to purchase cryptocurrency.' ANZ said it works with telecommunications companies on measures that stop scammers from adopting the 'ANZ' label in text messages. This includes 'reporting instances where ANZ has been impersonated for telcos to block and prevent these attempts'. 'ANZ has several measures in place to help detect and protect our customers from fraud and scams and we are continually reviewing and adjusting our capabilities as new fraud and scams emerge and criminals change how they operate,' the bank said. 'A genuine ANZ call, email or text will never ask you to share sensitive details such as passwords and pins, click a link to log into your account, grant remote access to your device, transfer money to another account to keep it safe or join an online chat with an ANZ member.' Mr Turner isn't alone in his experience. In February, reported an eerily similar story about another Aussie tradie who lost $58,000 in a spoofing scam. Furkan Colak, from Melbourne, was in the process of trying to buy a house while also saving up for his dad's knee surgery when he received a text message that looked to be from ANZ but was actually from a scammer. Mr Colak previously told that the whole experience left him 'shaking' and it has been tough to get over losing so much money. 'It comes to the point where you're almost over it and then you think what you could have done with the money,' he said
