'Large sentence' awaits triple-murderer mushroom cook
The 50-year-old mother of two was found guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder on Monday after a long trial.
Her estranged husband Simon's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and aunty Heather Wilkinson, 66, all died in hospital days after Patterson served them beef Wellington parcels laced with death cap mushrooms in July 2023.
Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson was the sole survivor.
There was a shout of "murderer" as Patterson was driven out of the court precinct to prison in Melbourne on Monday evening.
The jury's guilty verdicts came seven days after they were sent away to deliberate and 11 weeks into the trial in the Victorian town of Morwell.
Brianna Chesser, a clinical forensic psychologist and criminal lawyer, said she was not surprised by the outcome.
She argued Patterson's testimony across eight days on the witness stand, as well as circumstantial evidence, likely proved critical to convincing the jury beyond reasonable doubt.
"Whenever you have any lies in a trial it is quite a difficult thing to overcome from a defence perspective," the associate professor in criminology and justice at RMIT University told AAP.
"What came out regarding the mushrooms was almost insurmountable.
"When you've got particular searches on your phone and a dehydrator that you had and didn't have, it really speaks to the unusualness of the circumstances."
The story had captivated the world because of the method, as well as the now-convicted murderer being a woman when the vast majority of homicides were perpetrated by men, Dr Chesser said.
Patterson faces a sentence of life in prison for the three murders and one attempted murder and is expected to return to court for a pre-sentence hearing later in 2025.
Options for appeal were usually restricted to points of law, a "massive" error in fact or new evidence, Dr Chesser said.
"It's going to be quite a large sentence," she said.
"We've heard during the cross examination and examination in chief that there's some mental health concerns for Ms Patterson.
"That may well act a mitigating factor in any sort of sentence.
"We're also dealing with someone who's a middle-aged woman who has never offended before in their life and we've got four of the most serious crimes in Victoria being committed."
Within hours of the verdict, the Supreme Court released dozens of pieces of evidence that helped prosecutors secure the convictions.
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 released, while images of her at the hospital revealed a pink phone police say they never recovered.
Prosecutors said this was Patterson's primary phone in 2023 and claimed she had used it to find death cap mushrooms online.
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7NEWS
29 minutes ago
- 7NEWS
What will happen to the now infamous 'Mushroom Murder' house?
The 'mushroom murders' trial has officially ended and Erin Patterson has been found guilty of murder. Patterson was accused of murdering three relatives by serving them a lunch of beef Wellington pastries laced with poisonous mushrooms. The meal was served at Patterson's home in the rural town of Leongatha, and with the trial concluded, what will become of the now infamous house? Australia has a long history of notorious homes and properties, each of which has had a somewhat troubled time on the market. Whether it's selling under market value, passing in, remaining empty, it appears that a property's history does leave a mark. Here are some of the sales records of Australia's most infamous homes. The home of notorious cult 'The Family' Recently, the former headquarters of notorious cult 'The Family' hit the market with a price guide of $1.5 to $1.65 million. This is the first time the property, previously known as the 'Santiniketan Lodge', has been on the market since it was purchased by the cult in the 1960s. The Ferny Creek property gained infamy after it was used as the home and headquarters for the religious sect led by former yoga teacher Anne Hamilton-Byrne. In 1987, a police raid exposed illegal adoption and child abuse. Hamilton-Byrne had more than 20 children under her control and was accused of starvation, physical abuse, brainwashing and dosing them with LSD. The property is still currently on the market with the listing here, The Easey Street murder house This humble two-bedroom worker's cottage in Collingwood belies a grizzly past. 147 Easey Street, Collingwood was the site of one of Victoria's most brutal double murders. In 1977, housemates Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Barlett were violently murdered in the home in a case that became known as the 'Easey Street murders'. For decades the case remained unsolved, however new DNA evidence has led to a man being extradited from Italy to stand trial. After gaining notoriety for all the wrong reasons, the house stood empty for six years after the crime. It was eventually sold 34 years later in 2011 for $571,000. The property most recently changed hands in 2017, when it sold for $1.095 million. A figure lower than the $1.2 million range that comparable properties in the area were selling for. The Lin family murder house Over in North Epping, New South Wales, is the home of the brutal Lin family murders. In July 2009, news agency proprietor Min Lin, his wife, Yun Lin, their sons, Henry and Terry, and Yun Lin's sister, Irene Lin were murdered in their home. Min's and Yun's brother-in-law Lian Bin "Robert" Xie was later charged with the murders and is serving multiple life sentences in prison. The house remained empty until it was sold three years after the crimes in 2012 for $766,000. Records suggest that comparable properties in the area were selling in the range of $900,000 to $950,000. A press release at the time said the contract would provide "full disclosure of events that took place in the property". The house has since been sold again in 2021 for $1.87 million. The Sydney apartment where Lisa Harnum was murdered In further proof that a home's tragic past can affect its future sales, in 2015 the Sydney apartment where Lisa Harnum was murdered passed in at auction. The property was expected to fetch in excess of $2 million. Due to disclosure laws, the property contract at the time stated: "The vendor discloses a criminal homicide occurred from the balcony of the property in July 2011 when a previous tenant occupied the property." In 2011, Simon Gittany murdered his fiancée Lisa Harnum by throwing her from the balcony after she tried to leave him. Gittany is now serving a 26 year prison sentence. While 1503/157 Liverpool Streethas not sold since it was built in 2010, it has been a rental and is currently available for rent at $1,900 per week. The 'Snowtown murders' house and bank Perhaps one of the most macabre cases in Australian history are the Snowtown 'bodies in the barrels' murders. Between 1992 and 1999, John Justin Bunting, Robert Joe Wagner and James Spyridon Vlassakis murdered 12 people. Many of the bodies were discovered in barrels in an abandoned bank vault. The town became infamous, particularly after the 2011 feature film, but the site itself became synonymous with the brutal murders. The former bank, and attached four-bedroom house, has been sold four times since the grizzly discovery. It was most recently listed for sale in 2012 and sold for $190,000. At the time the listing proclaimed the sale was a chance to "Purchase a piece of Australian History!" The listing also noted "Buyers should note that illegal activities were conducted in the old bank building and you should enquire to the nature of these activities prior to bidding."
7NEWS
2 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Doctor who gave evidence at Erin Patterson trial now faces the prospect of losing his job
The Victorian doctor who called Erin Patterson a 'crazy b****' and a 'disturbed sociopathic nutbag' in an interview with the Herald Sun after her guilty verdict on Monday could soon lose his job. Chris Webster, a doctor at the hospital where Patterson presented two days after serving her lethal lunch of beef wellington in July 2023, was a medical witness at her 10-week trial. At the trial, Webster recalled a conversation he had with the convicted murderer. Webster was aware of the poisoning when he first met with Patterson at Leongatha Hospital. During their conversation, Patterson told him she got the mushrooms at Woolworths. On Monday, Patterson was found guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder following the deaths of her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson. Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, survived the lunch. Following the verdict, Webster told the Herald Sun, in no uncertain terms, that he knew Patterson lied about buying the mushrooms at Woolworths. 'If she said she picked them (the death caps), it would have been a very different mindset for me because there would have been an instant assumption it was all a tragic accident,' Webster told the publication. 'But once she said that answer (that she bought the mushrooms from Woolworths), my thoughts were, 'holy f**king shit, you f**king did it, you crazy b***h, you poisoned them all.'' 'The turning point for me was that moment.' Using colourful language, Webster also called the convicted murderer a 'sociopathic nutbag'. 'She wasn't freaking out about the safety of her children,' he said. 'Looking into her eyes, I thought 'I don't know what planet you're on but you're not on earth. 'If it was an Agatha Christie novel, this is how one of her characters would have done it.' Following the interview, Webster has received numerous formal complaints, which could result in him losing his job. He claimed he was labelled a 'misogynist' in at least one of the complaints. 'I'm not that at all, that's not me,' Webster told Daily Mail Australia. 'I stand by what I've done, this is very important. 'I'm happy to do all the media but it's become all too much now and I have engaged a lawyer and now gagged from any future media (in the short term). 'It's one thing copping these accusations on social media and Instagram but now it's formal complaints. 'I need to get home and back to work and sort this out, and once things are sorted, I will speak again.' Webster went on to claim one of the complaints saw Patterson referred to as a 'patient' of his, rather than a convicted killer. An investigation by the medical board over the complaints could result in a suspension or disqualification. Webster giving evidence During the trial, Webster in his testimony said he told her she had just been exposed to death cap mushroom poisoning. Later in the court, the triple zero phone call he made to the police was heard. 'This is Dr Chris Webster calling from Leongatha Hospital and I have a concern regarding a patient that presented here earlier and has left the building and is potentially exposed (to) a toxin from mushroom poisoning and I've tried several times to get hold of her on her mobile phone,' he said on the call. 'The last name is Patterson. Erin.' In a short conversation that followed, Webster explained to the operator that 'five people ate a meal on Saturday and two of them are in intensive care at Dandenong Hospital.' 'Two have just been transferred from Leongatha Hospital to Dandenong Hospital, and Erin presented this morning with symptoms of poisoning,' he continued. The operator asked what happened when Patterson presented and then quickly discharged herself. 'It was time for the nurse to begin observations, and I was managing the other critically unwell patients,' he said. 'I had a brief chat to her about where the mushrooms were obtained, and while I was attending (to) the other patients, nurses informed me that she had discharged herself against medical advice.' Patterson will be sentenced later this year.
Sky News AU
4 hours ago
- Sky News AU
'Ultra weird': Erin Patterson rarely saw mother while ex-husband visited with their two kids as texts reveal killer's dysfunctional family relationship
Triple murderer Erin Patterson rarely saw her mother who was visited more often by the mushroom cook's estranged husband and their kids, a source has claimed. Patterson was this week found guilty by a jury of murdering her three relatives of spouse Simon Patterson after serving them a poisonous beef wellington in 2023. Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, died when they ate the death cap mushroom-laced lunch. Heather's husband Ian miraculously survived. In the days after the incident, text messages had revealed Patterson had a dysfunctional relationship with her mum, Heather Scutter, who she described as "ultra weird". The mass murderer has now been accused of abandoning her mother. "Simon visited with the kids but Erin never came up," a source told Herald Sun. "He took the kids to Magic Mountain in Merimbula, they love it." Ms Scutter had retired to Eden, a picturesque town on the South Coast of New South Wales where she lived by the water in a two-storey brick home. She died of cancer in 2019, years after the death of her husband from pancreatic cancer. A neighbour said they were "glad" Patterson's parents had died as he did not know "how they would have coped" knowing their daughter was a mass murderer. 'They were lovely people, always travelling. I would take around tomatoes there when we had too many. This is just a tragedy," he said to Herald Sun. Ms Scutter was relocated to a nursing home after her husband died. The South Coast property was sold in 2019 for $900,000 by the killer and her sister. Eden is about a 5.5 hour drive from the small Victorian town of Leongatha, where Patterson lived with her family. Text messages between Patterson and a close friend reported on in 2023 had revealed the triple murderer had disliked her mum since she was a child. After Heather's death, the mushroom cook confided to a friend claiming she had a "horrible upbringing" and that her mother was "essentially a cold robot". "My mum was ultra weird her whole life. It was like being brought up in a Russian orphanage where they don't touch the babies," she texted a friend. Patterson has 28 days to appeal the murder convictions.
