Dropped attempted murder charges against Erin Patterson labelled 'dubious', court documents show

Australia Broadcast Center

2 days ago

Prosecutors made "dubious" arguments to try and convict Erin Patterson of poisoning her husband, a judge says, before those charges were ultimately dropped.
Last month, a jury found Erin guilty of using a beef Wellington containing death cap mushrooms to poison relatives Don and Gail Patterson, and Heather and Ian Wilkinson.
Prosecutors had also wanted the same jury to decide if Erin had deliberately poisoned estranged husband Simon Patterson in 2021 and 2022.
However, the Supreme Court rejected that scenario and ordered two separate trials, meaning jurors in the so-called "lunch trial" were never told about Simon's illnesses.
It led the Office of Public Prosecutions to abandon the attempted murder charges in relation to Simon.
"In the absence of evidence in relation to the lunch, it was determined that there were no reasonable prospects of conviction for those charges," an OPP spokesperson told the ABC.
Recently-released rulings by Victoria's Supreme Court and Court of Appeal have shed light on apparent weaknesses with the so-called "Simon charges".
The rulings also reveal why Justice Christopher Beale prevented prosecutors from showing the jury questionable articles discovered on Patterson's computers, or telling them about a visit she made to the local tip hours after hosting the fatal lunch.
Pre-trial hearings were told Simon fell ill after Erin prepared and served him a penne bolognese, chicken korma curry and a vegetable wrap in 2021 and 2022.
He required multiple surgeries, including the partial removal of his bowel.
Despite numerous tests, "doctors were unable to determine the cause of this illness", Justice Christopher Beale wrote.
In a subsequent Court of Appeal hearing, justices Karin Emerton, Phillip Priest and Terry Forrest picked apart the prosecution case.
Justice Priest wrote that prosecutors had sought to put their case in a "dubious way", by alleging Simon had ingested poison despite a lack of evidence.
In a ruling publicly released last week, Justices Emerton and Forrest wrote that prosecutors had "extraordinarily strong" evidence to show Erin deliberately poisoned in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Heather and Ian Wilkinson.
But evidence in the Simon Patterson-related charges was "of a different quality", they wrote.
"There is no direct evidence that Simon was poisoned on any of the three charged occasions.
"There is no direct medical or toxicological evidence that on any of these occasions he was in fact poisoned, and, without descending into detail, there is only the slimmest medical opinion that his symptoms on the first two occasions could more likely be explained by toxins than by infection."
An expert who examined severe illnesses suffered by Simon Patterson said he had never seen a case like it before, but was unable to find any evidence of poisoning, the court documents show.
In August 2022, Simon consulted with gastroenterologist Associate Professor Christopher Mills, who noted his sicknesses were "highly unusual".
"The clinical history taken from Simon indicated that he had been completely well up until 2021. Associate Professor Mills had never seen a case like Simon Patterson's before," Justice Beale wrote.
"He considered Simon's presentation to be 'unique' because of the severity of the medical picture in a young person with no suggestion of pre-existing organ dysfunction."
"He did not form a conclusive view about the cause of Simon Patterson's recurring illnesses."
In ordering two separate trials, Justice Beale said Erin faced "unfair prejudice" if jurors considering the lunch charges were also aware of other alleged poisoning attempts — a decision backed by the Court of Appeal.
In court, prosecutors did not explain why the Simon Patterson-related charges were dropped on the eve of the lunch trial. Simon alluded to the decision and expressed his confusion with it while sitting in the witness box when jurors were out of the room.
Meanwhile, the release of hundreds of pages of pre-trial rulings showed police believed numerous articles about poisonings had been downloaded on Erin's electronic devices.
However, Justice Beale ruled them inadmissible because there was insufficient proof Erin had accessed or read the files.
Titles of the articles included "Some Common Homicidal Poisons", "Red kidney bean poisoning in the UK" and "One step Purification and Characterisation of Abrin Toxin from Abrus Precatorius Seeds".
Between October 2021 and May 2023, prosecutors alleged she potentially accessed an article about medical errors in treating death cap mushroom poisonings, and a news article about two people dying after eating toxic fungi at a New Year's Eve party in Canberra.
Prosecutors argued the downloads showed Erin had an interest in the topic of poisonings, but her defence lawyers said they were "irrelevant" and invited "speculation".
Another of Justice Beale's rulings revealed why the experienced judge did not allow prosecutors to tell the jury Erin went to a local rubbish tip hours after the lunch concluded on July 29, 2023.
While prosecutors were able to show the jury evidence of Erin dumping a dehydrator on August 2, 2023, Justice Beale ruled evidence about the visit four days earlier was speculative.
Footage of the July 29 trip, published by the Daily Mail, showed Erin throwing pieces of cardboard into a large skip bin.
In pre-trial hearings, prosecutors were unable to say if Erin had disposed of anything else during that visit. But they argued the timing — and the fact that Erin's household bin was not full — suggested she was disposing of items "related to the lunch".
Justice Beale ruled that if suspects destroyed evidence connected with a crime it could amount to an admission of guilt. But in this case, where the items were unknown, he said it moved "into the realms of speculation".
"Because it is conceded the accused disposed of a dehydrator at the same tip on 2 August 2023, the jury will jump to the conclusion that the item or items disposed at the tip on 29 July 2023 must have been connected to the poisoned meal in some way," he wrote.
An orange or tan-coloured plate — which sole lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson said Erin used to serve her portion of beef Wellington — was never recovered by police.
Erin, 50, faces the prospect of life in prison for triple murder and attempted murder. A pre-sentence hearing is scheduled for August 25 and 26.