Secret move to seize Erin Patterson's property for victims revealed
Legal sources speaking on condition of anonymity said the DPP could challenge the mortgage and argue Doogue & George knew at the time it was taken out that the property was 'risky' since Patterson cooked the beef Wellington parcels used to commit the crime in the kitchen.
However, the source said Patterson's lawyers could also argue that prosecutors had a chance to restrain the property earlier and failed to do so. They could also argue Patterson had not been convicted at the time, and it was their view that she hadn't committed any offences.
'It's for a judge to ultimately say,' one source said. 'If one of them wants to go off to the Court of Appeal, the Court of Appeal might see it differently.'
Patterson served the poisoned meal to her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, as well as Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian Wilkinson, in the Gibson Street property on July 29, 2023.
Don, Gail and Heather died less than a week later. Ian, a Baptist pastor in Korumburra, eventually recovered after spending several weeks in hospital, most of those in a coma.
Ian, as well as members of the Wilkinson and Patterson families, could be eligible for compensation.
The five-bedroom property is likely to be difficult to sell, given its history as the scene of a major crime and the ghoulish attraction it has become for true-crime fans.
Loading
True-crime aficionados and curious locals have been frequently spotted driving along the quiet road to take a peek at the house.
The 1.2 hectare property, surrounded by gumtrees and paddocks, has been labelled 'Erin's Mushroom House' on Google Maps. The listing includes a 5-star review by an online user alongside jokes about the mushroom meal.
Just before the 12-person jury began deliberations in the case, black plastic sheeting was used to cover the external fencing of the property – creating a kind of privacy shield. It was taken down days after the guilty verdicts.
During the trial, Patterson spoke about her Leongatha house, telling the jury she'd helped design it using Microsoft Paint and wanted it to be her forever home.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
7NEWS
8 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Never-before-seen footage shows Erin Patterson questioned by police at the dining table where relatives were poisoned
Never-before-seen footage shows Erin Patterson calmly questioned by police at the table where three of her relatives were poisoned. The first released footage shows Erin Patterson inside her Leongatha home in Victoria on August 5, 2023, a week after the 50-year-old served a beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Vision of Erin Patterson grilled by police released. Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today The footage was tendered as exhibits during Patterson's trial, but was only released to the media on Monday. Seated at the same dining table where she hosted the deadly lunch, Patterson appears composed as she speaks with a detective, even handing over what police later suspected was a dummy mobile phone. 'Thanks for your patience today, Erin,' Detective Sergeant Luke Farrell says. 'We're completing our search. The only outstanding item is that mobile phone that you've got there, so I'll seize that from you.' Farrell then asks Patterson for the PIN to her phone, and she offers two possible combinations, saying she can't remember which one is correct. The phone later unlocked without a PIN code. 'Makes your job easy,' Patterson says. 'We were later to find out that the police believe there was a second mobile phone, so perhaps that helps to explain why she is so calm,' criminologist Dr Xanthe Mallett said. The phone, a Samsung Galaxy A23 nicknamed Phone B, was one of four devices owned by Patterson. Investigators believe it was factory reset once before and then remotely wiped again after it was seized. Prosecutors told the court the Samsung device contained no significant data. Meanwhile, the main phone Patterson used before the deadly lunch, known as Phone A, was never found. Another piece of footage released on Monday shows Patterson dumping a food dehydrator she used to dry the death cap mushrooms. She attempted to dispose of it four days after the lunch, but police later recovered it, with samples of the deadly fungi still found on the trays. On July 7, Patterson was found guilty of murdering her husband Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, as well as attempting to murder Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson. The mother-of-two maintained her innocence throughout the trial, claiming the poisonings were accidental. She is yet to be sentenced, and remains in custody at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, a maximum security prison for women in Melbourne's western suburbs.
Perth Now
9 hours ago
- Perth Now
Videos from mushroom murder trial released
Footage of Erin Patterson speaking with detectives at the table where she served her deadly lunch has been released, almost a month after she was convicted of three murders. The Victorian Supreme Court has also released a second clip of Patterson disposing of a food dehydrator, which was used as critical evidence to prosecute the convicted mushroom cook killer. Patterson, 50, was found guilty on July 7 of murdering her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, and the attempted murder of Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson. The jury found she deliberately served the four people beef Wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms at her Leongatha home in regional Victoria on July 29, 2023. Both videos were played during the 11-week trial in Morwell. The first clip is dated August 2, 2023, and shows CCTV of Patterson dumping a food dehydrator at Koonwarra Transfer Station. She is seen getting out of her red SUV and pulling a black dehydrator from the boot before she placed it in an e-waste bin inside a green shed. The dehydrator, which police seized from a tip days after the meal, contained traces of death cap mushrooms. The other video released, dated August 5, 2023, shows Patterson sitting at her dining table with Detective Sergeant Luke Farrell. Leaning on her hand, Patterson appears to engage in conversation in the moments following a police raid on her home, during which electronic items, including a phone and computer were seized. Det Sgt Farrell is heard thanking Patterson for her patience before requesting her phone and asking for the passcode. She then hands over the phone. The Supreme Court had released dozens of pieces of evidence that helped prosecutors secure the convictions within hours of the guilty verdicts in July. They included photos showing remnants of beef Wellington leftovers as they were tested by toxicologists, after police found them inside a bin at Patterson's home A video of Patterson discharging herself from Leongatha Hospital minutes after she had arrived was also previously released, while images of her at the hospital revealed a pink phone police say they never recovered. Patterson, who is facing the possibility of life behind bars, will return to court for a pre-sentence hearing later in 2025. After her sentence is handed down, she will have 28 days to file an appeal.
Perth Now
11 hours ago
- Perth Now
Moment mushroom killer chucked key item
Footage of the moment triple-killer Erin Patterson dumped her dehydrator at a local tip has been released by Victoria's Supreme Court. The CCTV footage, spanning 47 seconds, captures Patterson arriving at the Koonwarra Transfer Station in the morning of August 2, 2023, in her red MG SUV and carry the black bulky item directly into a shed. The 50-year-old mother of two was found guilty last month of murdering three of her husband Simon Patterson's relatives, and the attempted murder of a fourth, with a poisoned beef wellington just days earlier on July 29. Simon's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson died from death cap mushroom poisoning in the week following the lunch while Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, survived. Patterson will return to court on Friday. NewsWire/ David Crosling Credit: News Corp Australia CCTV captured her dumping the dehydrator. Supplied/ Supreme Court of Victoria Credit: News Corp Australia During her trial, the jury was shown the footage as police described locating the Sunbeam Food Lab dehydrator in the tip's e-waste bin on August 4. It was later found to contain remnants of death cap mushrooms. The court was told Patterson's trip came the morning after she was released from Monash Hospital on the afternoon of August 1. On the stand, Patterson claimed she dumped the dehydrator in a panic after Simon allegedly confronted her in hospital — an incident he says never happened. 'He said to me, 'Is that how you poisoned my parents, using that dehydrator?'' she said. Patterson claimed she realised soon after she might be wrongly blamed for the deaths and took steps to hide evidence. The dehydrator was soon located. Supplied/ Supreme Court of Victoria Credit: News Corp Australia The jury heard Patterson had purchased the dehydrator just two months earlier on April 28 and shared with friends online she'd been hiding dehydrated mushrooms in everything. 'I've been hiding powdered mushrooms in everything. Mixed it into chocolate brownies yesterday, the kids had no idea,' one message reads. Another said; 'So fun fact the dehydrator reduces mushroom mass by 90 per cent. Do you think Woolies would mind if I put the dehydrator into their vegetable section and dry things before I buy them.' At trial, Patterson maintained she was innocent and did not intentionally poison anyone. Footage has been released of the moment Erin Patterson was asked to hand over her mobile phone to investigators as they searched her Leongatha home. Instead, the jury heard, the case was a tragic foraging accident with wild mushrooms inadvertently making their way into the beef wellington lunch. Patterson is set to return to the Victorian Supreme Court on Friday, where it's expected a date will be listed for a pre-sentence hearing.
