Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates: How accused allegedly branded her husband a 'deadbeat' and his parents a 'lost cause'

Daily Mail​

23-05-2025

Patterson's group messages about her estranged husband and his family read aloud to jury: 'I swear to God'
Patterson vented about her in-laws to online friends in the months leading up to the fateful lunch that claimed their lives.
On Thursday, Victoria Police Cybercrime Squad senior digital forensics officer Shamen Fox-Henry was taken through a series of Facebook messages allegedly sent by Patterson seven months before the deadly lunch.
In the messages, Patterson described her in-laws as a 'lost cause' and exclaimed 'f**k them'.
Patterson showed no emotion at the back of courtroom four of the Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court in Victoria's east, where her Supreme Court hearing is being held.
Mr Fox-Henry (pictured below) was able to recover the Facebook messages from a Samsung phone seized by police upon her arrest the following month August 2023.
Some of the messages read:
'Simon's dad contacted me this morning to say that he and Gail had tried to talk to Simon about the matters I raised and to get 'his side' but he refused to talk about it other than to signal he disagreed with what I said,' she told her online chums.
'Beyond that he wont talk about it. So Don said they cant adjudicate if they don't know both sides and Simon wont give his side. So he said all he can ask is that Simon and I get together to pray for the children.
'This family I swear to f**king God.'
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Patterson trial overview so far
Erin Patterson, 50, is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, after allegedly serving them a beef Wellington lunch with death cap mushrooms.
Patterson is also accused of attempting to murder Heather's husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson (pictured below), who survived the lunch after spending several weeks in an intensive care unit.
The court heard Patterson's estranged husband, Simon, was also invited, but didn't attend.
Witnesses told the jury Patterson ate her serving from a smaller and differently coloured plate than those of her guests, who ate from four grey plates.
Patterson told authorities she bought dried mushrooms from an unnamed Asian store in the Monash area of Melbourne, but health inspectors could find no evidence of this.
The health department declared the death cap poisoning was 'isolated' to Patterson's deadly lunch.
Multiple witnesses, including Simon Patterson, Ian Wilkinson and other family members, have given emotion-charged evidence to the jury.
Medical staff have told the jury of the painful symptoms the dying lunch guests and Ian Wilkinson suffered.
An expert witness told the court death cap mushrooms were detected in debris taken from a dehydrater Patterson had dumped at a local tip.
Telecommunications expert Dr Matthew Sorell also told the jury Patterson's phone was detected near areas in Outtrim and Loch where death cap mushrooms had been spotted.
CCTV of a short toilet pitstop at a Gippsland BP service station following the day of the lunch was also shown to the court.
Victoria Police Cybercrime Squad senior digital forensics officer Shamen Fox-Henry said he found evidence of a death cap mushroom on data from a computer seized from Patterson's Leongatha home on August 5, 2023.
Blunt Facebook messages found on a Samsung phone were on Thursday read aloud to the jury.