Watch the critical video evidence used to convict mushroom cook killer Erin Patterson - as CCTV and her police interview is made public for the first time

Daily Mail​

9 hours ago

The full video of Erin Patterson dumping her food dehydrator has been released by the Supreme Court of Victoria a month after she was found guilty of three murders.
CCTV footage shows Patterson visiting Koonwarra transfer station in rural Victoria on August 2, 2023, four days after she served four guests a beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms.
The day before a camera captured Patterson dumping the device, she had left hospital after complaining of gastrointestinal problems.
Patterson is shown driving her red SUV to the transfer station and parking it outside the tip, then removing the dehydrator from the vehicle.
She walks inside a shed, drops off the dehydrator, returns to her car and drives away. The device was later found to contain traces of death cap mushrooms.
The court previously released photos of the dehydrator used to dry out the deadly ingredient before she used it to kill her in-laws.
Patterson had pleaded not guilty to the murders of her former husband's parents Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, but a jury found her guilty.
The trio died after consuming death cap mushrooms served in beef Wellingtons during lunch at Patterson's home in Leongatha, 135km southeast of Melbourne, on July 29, 2023.
Patterson was found guilty on July 7 of three murders and of attempting to murder a fourth lunch guest, Pastor Ian Wilkinson, who survived.
Pictures and video tendered during Patterson's 10-week trial have gradually been released by the court since the guilty verdicts.
Images of the toxic beef Wellington and the table where Patterson served her deadly lunch have emerged, as well as CCTV footage of the moment she discharged herself from hospital.
A second video made public on Monday shows Patterson sitting at her dining table opposite Detective Sergeant Luke Farrell from the homicide squad.
'Thanks for your patience today, Erin,' Detective Sergeant 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 now from you.'
Patterson hands over her Samsung phone and is then asked for her access code.
Videos and images shown to the jury had been withheld from the media until verdicts were reached.
One previously released video showed Patterson calmly walk into a BP service station where she was seen entering the toilet for nine seconds.
Patterson had driven her son to his flying lesson in Tyabb the day after the fatal meal, stopping at the petrol station in Caldermeade along the way.
Dressed in white pants, while claiming to be suffering from 'explosive diarrhoea', Patterson was seen wandering about the service station, stopping to buy treats, a ham, cheese and tomato sandwich, and a sweet chilli chicken wrap.
Other footage showed Patterson leaving the Leongatha hospital after complaining of nausea and diarrhoea.
She discharged herself against medical advice about five minutes after arriving at hospital at 8.05am.
So concerned was a doctor about her welfare that he was forced to phone the police to try and get her to return.
Police arrived at her home shortly after Patterson returned to the hospital about 10am.
Told by Patterson where to find the leftovers, the officers drove the deadly meal back to the hospital, where it was inspected by Dr Veronica Foote, before being transferred for further examination by Monash Health emergency registrar Laura Muldoon.
The court was also shown the CCTV vision of Patterson at the tip where she dumped the dehydrator as well images of sliced mushrooms laying on a metal tray taken from the device.
The images were taken by Patterson and extracted from her devices.
Royal Botanic Gardens of Victoria mycologist Tom May told the jury he could not 'exclude the possibility these are death cap mushrooms'.
On August 5, 2023, police executed a search warrant on Patterson's Leongatha home, seizing various electronic devices and photographing the scene of the crime.
Patterson's defence had tried to suggest police had missed her phone during that search, which they claimed could be seen in one image in a black case.
However, an image taken from Patterson's visit to hospital showed she kept the phone in a pink case.
The phone was never located by police and likely dumped by Patterson in the days after the raid.
The jury was also shown the cook book Patterson claimed to have based her vile beef Wellingtons on.
She had lifted the recipe from a Recipetin Eats Dinner cookbook, but drastically changed the way the Wellingtons were made in order to execute her wicked plan.
Instead of serving one complete log of Wellington, Patterson changed the recipe to make individual pasties, serving her 'safe' Wellington on a different coloured plate to insure she wasn't accidentally poisoned too.
Much was made of that plate during the trial, with Patterson's defence suggested Ian Wilkinson had made a mistake about the size and colour of his host's plate.
But it was an observation made by her other lunch guests, who lived long enough to tell the tale before they died slow and agonising deaths.
Patterson herself had also taken to the witness box in a last ditch effort to save her skin.
But her lies brought her undone time and time again.
Ultimately, the jury decided it could not believe a word Patterson said and going off the evidence at hand had no doubt at all she had killed her guests in the coldest of ways.
She will face a preliminary plea hearing at a date to be fixed before sentence where she is expected to receive a life sentence.
Family members of the victims declined to speak after the verdict, asking for privacy in a statement issued through police.
A lone friend of Patterson appeared overcome with emotion as she left the courthouse through a jostling media pack.
'I'm saddened. But it is what it is,' she told reporters.