Woman accused of killing in-laws admits using ‘death cap' mushrooms in dish

Telegraph

2 days ago

An Australian mother accused of killing her in-laws with a poisoned beef wellington has admitted for the first time that she mixed lethal death-cap mushrooms into the meal.
Erin Patterson told a court on Tuesday she cooked the dish with a mixture of mushrooms, including a 'pungent' variety she claimed to have bought on holiday, before serving it to her estranged husband's parents in July 2023.
She denies murdering Gail Patterson and Don Patterson, both 70, who fell ill hours after dining at her home.
Ms Patterson also denies the murder of another guest, Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Mrs Wilkinson's husband, Ian, who survived after receiving an organ transplant.
Her estranged husband Simon was also invited to the lunch but pulled out at the last minute.
On Tuesday, Colin Mandy, Ms Patterson's defence barrister, asked her: 'Do you accept that there must have been death cap mushrooms in it?'
'Yes, I do,' the 50-year-old replied.
Ms Patterson's defence team have been seeking to portray her as a loving daughter-in-law and home cook who liked to 'experiment' with dehydrating mushrooms after picking up foraging for fungi as a Covid lockdown hobby.
'When I got to a point where I was confident about what I thought that they were, I cut a bit off one of the mushrooms, fried it up with some butter, ate it, then saw what happened,' Ms Patterson said.
She said that she learnt to identify mushrooms with the help of a Facebook group for foragers. 'They tasted good and I didn't get sick,' Ms Patterson added.
Accused 'told victims she had cancer'
Ian Wilkinson was able to assist police with their investigation after he woke up in intensive care.
He told police that Ms Patterson had served her meal on a different colour plate to the ones she served her guests and that she had told them during the lunch that she had been diagnosed with cancer.
But on Tuesday Ms Patterson admitted in court she had never been diagnosed with the disease.
She also said she had a mistrust of doctors following previous incidents of feeling dismissed when she took her children to hospital.
Ms Patterson said that when her daughter, now 11, was a baby she had discovered a lump on her abdomen but doctors initially brushed off her concerns. The growth was later found to be on the girl's ovary and required surgery, she said.
'I took her to a lot of doctors and even the hospital, and what they communicated to me was I was an over-anxious mother, that should relax, and she's just a normal baby,' she said.
'I didn't like hospitals before it, like who does, but I didn't trust that these people knew what they were doing and I was just in a heightened state of anxiety ever after.'
Relationship with in-laws 'never changed'
Ms Patterson also detailed her relationship with her husband for the first time in court, saying the couple had remained 'good friends' after their separation.
She said they had travelled across Australia and to New Zealand together with their children, but conflict had arisen over child support payments.
Ms Patterson was asked why she had purchased property in both her and her husband's names in 2019 despite them being separated for four years by that point.
'I always thought that we would bring the family back together,' Ms Patterson said. 'It was something, you know, tangible to say... I see a future for us.'
The court also heard how she had given her husband's siblings £200,000 loans each to purchase their homes after receiving an inheritance.
Becoming visibly upset, Ms Patterson said her relationship with in-laws 'never changed' despite the marriage breakdown. 'I was just their daughter-in-law and they just continued to love me,' she said.