Mushroom killer Erin Patterson's obsession finally, fully revealed
"Did you have an interest in wild mushrooms?" defence barrister Colin Mandy SC asked on the killer's second day in the witness box.
"Yeah, I did," the 50-year-old replied.
The jury listened intently as she admitted a love of mushrooms and wild fungi for the first time in week six of her triple-murder trial.
But little did they know the evidence that was not aired.
Simon Patterson's explosive claims can now be reported after a court allowed teh testimony to be released. (Source: 1News)
Media were banned from reporting on pre-trial evidence that Justice Christopher Beale had ruled out of the trial to give Patterson time to lodge an appeal.
A suppression order over that material was lifted today.
One of the most bizarre pieces of evidence that did not make it to the trial was a Facebook post to a poisons help page.
Prosecutors alleged Patterson uploaded a photo of a cat eating mushrooms about 18 months before Simon claimed he was first poisoned by his estranged wife, in November 2021.
"My cat chewed on this mushroom just now," the post said, according to pre-trial evidence.
"He is having a vomit. Was in grassland near trees, I'm in Victoria Australia."
Patterson owned a dog but did not own a cat.
Prosecutors alleged the post was fake and they planned to use it in the trial to show the killer's long-held interest both in poisons and wild mushrooms.
Jane Warren said it showed that Patterson's interest in mushrooms was "in the poisonous properties".
Defence successfully argued against the post being permitted as evidence in the triple-murder trial.
"The prosecution is at pains to establish the accused did not have a cat and therefore that this post was dishonest," barrister Colin Mandy SC told a pre-trial hearing.
"That will reflect poorly on the accused if that's admitted to evidence."
The post might have been manipulated by the person who provided it to police, Mandy said as he argued they should have been called to give evidence in the trial.
"The witness who produced the screenshot had previously manipulated screenshots in the Facebook group using Photoshop," the defence barrister said.
"Its reliability on the face of it is questionable."
The Victorian woman was found guilty this week of murdering three of her former in-laws and attempting to kill a fourth with a poisonous lunch. (Source: 1News)
Ultimately, Justice Beale ruled it out of evidence before the trial began.
A number of other items of evidence revealed Patterson's alleged penchant for poisons.
These were found by Victoria Police digital officers, who trawled through thousands of pieces of data found on devices seized from Patterson's home.
The digital investigators used key words including "death", "mushroom" and "poison".
An appendix from a 2007 book called Criminal Poisonings was found on a Samsung tablet.
It listed the colour, odour, solubility, taste and lethal dose of poisons including antifreeze, arsenic and cyanide.
Prosecutors alleged in pre-trial hearings that Patterson had access to the document in October 2019.
However, defence lawyers successfully argued prosecutors could not prove she accessed the file just because it was found on the device as there was no evidence she had downloaded it or read it.
Mandy said it would be prejudicial to Patterson in her trial and claimed Patterson's children might have been using the tablet when the file was downloaded.
"And 2019 is too remote to be relevant to these allegations," Mandy told pre-trial.
A jury has found Victorian woman Erin Patterson guilty of murder, nearly two years after a family lunch ended in tragedy. (Source: 1News)
Another PDF titled "an overview of fungi in Melbourne" was found on a device at Patterson's home with an unknown date. But the defence claimed it had limited probative value as it did not mention poisonous mushrooms.
The document had death cap mushrooms on the second page.
"There's lots of people who are widely read, but don't read about poisonous mushrooms," Justice Beale commented on the document.
The jury was told about Patterson ditching the dehydrator she used to dry out the deadly mushroom after she left Melbourne's Monash Hospital on August 2, 2023.
However, they were not told about her first visit to Koonwarra transfer station – on the same day as the beef Wellington lunch – where she disposed of cardboard.
Prosecutors told pre-trial hearings that Patterson was seen going to the tip on July 29, 2023.
She also put her rubbish bins out for collection on the day of the lunch - which prosecutors alleged was incriminating conduct – but the jury was not told that either.
Patterson was ultimately found guilty in July of three counts of murder and one of attempted murder over the poisoned beef Wellington meal.
Her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson all died following the lunch, while Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson became seriously ill but survived.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
1News
a day ago
- 1News
Mushroom killer Erin Patterson's obsession finally, fully revealed
A tense silence fell over a small rural court room as Erin Patterson, facing a jury and fiddling with her fingers, delivered the first of many admissions. "Did you have an interest in wild mushrooms?" defence barrister Colin Mandy SC asked on the killer's second day in the witness box. "Yeah, I did," the 50-year-old replied. The jury listened intently as she admitted a love of mushrooms and wild fungi for the first time in week six of her triple-murder trial. But little did they know the evidence that was not aired. Simon Patterson's explosive claims can now be reported after a court allowed teh testimony to be released. (Source: 1News) Media were banned from reporting on pre-trial evidence that Justice Christopher Beale had ruled out of the trial to give Patterson time to lodge an appeal. A suppression order over that material was lifted today. One of the most bizarre pieces of evidence that did not make it to the trial was a Facebook post to a poisons help page. Prosecutors alleged Patterson uploaded a photo of a cat eating mushrooms about 18 months before Simon claimed he was first poisoned by his estranged wife, in November 2021. "My cat chewed on this mushroom just now," the post said, according to pre-trial evidence. "He is having a vomit. Was in grassland near trees, I'm in Victoria Australia." Patterson owned a dog but did not own a cat. Prosecutors alleged the post was fake and they planned to use it in the trial to show the killer's long-held interest both in poisons and wild mushrooms. Jane Warren said it showed that Patterson's interest in mushrooms was "in the poisonous properties". Defence successfully argued against the post being permitted as evidence in the triple-murder trial. "The prosecution is at pains to establish the accused did not have a cat and therefore that this post was dishonest," barrister Colin Mandy SC told a pre-trial hearing. "That will reflect poorly on the accused if that's admitted to evidence." The post might have been manipulated by the person who provided it to police, Mandy said as he argued they should have been called to give evidence in the trial. "The witness who produced the screenshot had previously manipulated screenshots in the Facebook group using Photoshop," the defence barrister said. "Its reliability on the face of it is questionable." The Victorian woman was found guilty this week of murdering three of her former in-laws and attempting to kill a fourth with a poisonous lunch. (Source: 1News) Ultimately, Justice Beale ruled it out of evidence before the trial began. A number of other items of evidence revealed Patterson's alleged penchant for poisons. These were found by Victoria Police digital officers, who trawled through thousands of pieces of data found on devices seized from Patterson's home. The digital investigators used key words including "death", "mushroom" and "poison". An appendix from a 2007 book called Criminal Poisonings was found on a Samsung tablet. It listed the colour, odour, solubility, taste and lethal dose of poisons including antifreeze, arsenic and cyanide. Prosecutors alleged in pre-trial hearings that Patterson had access to the document in October 2019. However, defence lawyers successfully argued prosecutors could not prove she accessed the file just because it was found on the device as there was no evidence she had downloaded it or read it. Mandy said it would be prejudicial to Patterson in her trial and claimed Patterson's children might have been using the tablet when the file was downloaded. "And 2019 is too remote to be relevant to these allegations," Mandy told pre-trial. A jury has found Victorian woman Erin Patterson guilty of murder, nearly two years after a family lunch ended in tragedy. (Source: 1News) Another PDF titled "an overview of fungi in Melbourne" was found on a device at Patterson's home with an unknown date. But the defence claimed it had limited probative value as it did not mention poisonous mushrooms. The document had death cap mushrooms on the second page. "There's lots of people who are widely read, but don't read about poisonous mushrooms," Justice Beale commented on the document. The jury was told about Patterson ditching the dehydrator she used to dry out the deadly mushroom after she left Melbourne's Monash Hospital on August 2, 2023. However, they were not told about her first visit to Koonwarra transfer station – on the same day as the beef Wellington lunch – where she disposed of cardboard. Prosecutors told pre-trial hearings that Patterson was seen going to the tip on July 29, 2023. She also put her rubbish bins out for collection on the day of the lunch - which prosecutors alleged was incriminating conduct – but the jury was not told that either. Patterson was ultimately found guilty in July of three counts of murder and one of attempted murder over the poisoned beef Wellington meal. Her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson all died following the lunch, while Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson became seriously ill but survived.
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Mushroom murderer Erin Patterson denied poisoning husband using toxic pasta, chicken curry
By Kristian Silva, ABC Erin Patterson was found guilty of poisoning family members with death cap mushrooms. Photo: AFP / MARTIN KEEP Police alleged Erin Patterson used a toxic penne pasta, a chicken korma curry and a vegetable wrap to poison husband Simon, before hosting the lunch where she served a beef Wellington containing death cap mushrooms . Patterson pleaded not guilty, and was set to also plead not guilty to other charges dating back to 2021 and 2022. Last month, she was found guilty of the murders of Simon Patterson's parents - Don and Gail Patterson - and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson , as well as the attempted murder of Heather's husband, Ian, who all fell ill after a lunch at her home in July 2023. The jury in Patterson's marathon trial were not told details about the alleged incidents involving Simon Patterson, which he said resulted in him being hospitalised. The details can now be reported, after the Supreme Court of Victoria lifted a suppression order on Friday. A source of the alleged poisonings was not confirmed, according to evidence in court, although prosecutors claimed a medical expert said his symptoms were consistent with ingesting rat poison on one occasion. Patterson was ready to fight the charges relating to Simon at a second criminal trial, after the beef Wellington murder trial. However the second trial never went ahead, because attempted murder charges were dropped by prosecutors in April 2025 , just before the first trial began. In court, prosecutors did not outline why the attempted murder charges were discontinued. In pre-trial hearings, Simon testified that he held suspicions his wife had been trying to poison him, before his parents, aunt and uncle attended the fatal lunch on 29 July, 2023. The police brief of evidence contained allegations from Simon that Erin Patterson had tried to poison him between 16-17 November, 2021, using a penne bolognese served in a Tupperware container, the evening before the couple went on a camping trip to Wilsons Promontory. "She told me she'd made pasta for all of us and she was going to feed it to the kids that night, when she gave it to me," Simon told a pre-trial hearing in October 2024. At the time, the couple were living separately and Simon testified that he took the food home. "I couldn't tell you if it was a message or a phone call, she encouraged me to have tea… and not wait too late to have tea," he testified. Simon said he ended up in hospital for an overnight stay, suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea. Simon said he fell sick again with the same symptoms during another camping trip with his estranged wife, this time at Howqua in Victoria's High Country between 25-27 May, 2022. "We had a chicken korma curry on the second night," he said. "While Erin was preparing food, I was getting the fire going, so I didn't watch her prepare it." Simon said he was assessed at the Mansfield Hospital, but was discharged later that afternoon. A few days later, however, Simon said his condition worsened while he was at home. Simon testified that he ended up in a coma and required lifesaving surgery at the Monash Hospital in Melbourne. "They'd done a lot of tests," he said in October 2024. "They hadn't found the cause of what happened to me, but they seemed to have dealt with the symptoms effectively that there was a good chance I would make a full recovery." Simon said he spent weeks in rehab and continued to recuperate at Erin's home, where he shared the house with his wife and their children. During his recovery, Simon said his wife became frustrated and was giving him the "cold shoulder". "It seemed obvious to me that she didn't want me to be there in an increasing way," he said. "One morning, she came in while I was in bed and she told me that she was very upset with me, that I spent a lot of my time in bed, that I did not help out around the home like she would like me to, that I didn't get up early to bring the kids to school at all." Simon said he fell seriously ill again on 6 September, 2022, after he and his wife returned to Wilsons Promontory. "Erin said she'd bring food for the trip," he said. "She brought items to make a curry, a vegetable wrap for me. "I think she had some of those things, but not in a wrap. "I trust my memory of this. The wrap was prepared and when I see that, I can picture the wrap in the aluminium foil, and I can picture the ingredients in her lunch, which weren't wrapped." Simon Patterson claimed he had suffered several doses of food poisoning before wife Erin served the fatal mushroom lunch. Photo: PAUL TYQUIN After eating the meal, Simon said he felt like he "really needed to go to the toilet". He said he passed out and was hospitalised again, and experienced slurred speech and possible seizures. Simon said he spoke to a doctor, Christopher Ford, in late 2022 and raised suspicions his wife was trying to poison him. "He was very thoughtful," Simon testified. "He said, 'I suggest you don't tell too many people about that'." Around the same period, Simon removed Erin as his medical power of attorney and began tracking his meals in a spreadsheet, the court heard. Simon said he never thought other people were at risk and believed he was his wife's only alleged target. It was why he didn't warn his parents, when they decided to go to Erin's house in Leongatha on 29 July, 2023. Simon was a last-minute withdrawal from the lunch and sent a text message cancellation to his wife the night before. "I thought there'd be a risk that she'd poison me if I attended," he said, during the 2024 pre-trial hearing. In the week after the lunch, while the guests were close to death, several of Simon's relatives told pre-trial hearings that he called a meeting in the Austin Hospital chapel. "He wanted to tell us that his own illnesses had been a deliberate act, that he'd stopped eating food Erin had prepared, because he suspected that she might have been messing with it," cousin Ruth Dubois testified. "He was really sorry he hadn't told our parents or our family about this." In the pre-trial hearings, Simon said the source of his repeated illnesses was never confirmed. During the pre-trial hearing, Patterson's defence lawyer told the court a medical expert, who had analysed Simon's medical records from the time of his third illness, had concluded his symptoms were consistent with low potassium levels. Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers said an article was found on Erin Patterson's computer relating to barium carbonate "around the time" Simon fell sick in September 2022. "Barium carbonate is a rat poison," Dr Rogers said, adding that the prosecution had commissioned another report from the same medical expert, which said Simon's symptoms were consistent with barium carbonate ingestion. Prosecutors had hoped the recently concluded trial in Morwell would comprise seven charges - three murder charges and an attempted murder for the beef Wellington lunch, and three separate charges relating to alleged poisonings of Simon. However, in the lead-up, Justice Christopher Beale ordered the Simon-related charges be "severed" or split off into another trial. It was a ruling the DPP was unable to overturn, despite a challenge in the Court of Appeal. In the Court of Appeal, Colin Mandy SC argued that his client would face "unfair prejudice", if both sets of charges were heard in one trial. One of the appeal judges, Phillip Priest, seemed to agree. "I suppose it could be said, well, the evidence of [the four lunch charges] appears to be stronger than the evidence on the [three Simon charges]," he said. "It's a very short hop, skip and a jump to convicting on the other three." Because the "Simon charges" were severed - and later dropped - the jury in the lunch trial did not hear about Simon's prior illnesses, concerns he had allegedly raised or the chapel meeting. After her arrest in November 2023, police also charged Erin with one count of attempted murder in relation to Simon Patterson on 29 July, 2023, the date of the beef Wellington lunch. Even though he did not attend, police alleged she planned to lace his meal with death cap mushrooms. That charge was also dropped, after the Office of Public Prosecutions took charge of the case. On 1 May, while the jury was out of the room, Simon referenced the discontinued charges , while sitting in the witness box. "The legal process has been very difficult," he said. "Especially the way it's progressed in terms of the charges relating to me and my evidence about that - or non-evidence now, I guess I have a lot to grieve and am grieving a lot about all this stuff here, as I'm sure you can imagine. "All the hearings that's led up to this, all the discussions about the way we got to this point here, where I'm sitting here, half-thinking about the things I'm not allowed to talk about. "I don't actually understand why, it seems bizarre to me, but it is what it is." - ABC
1News
a day ago
- 1News
The claims jury in Erin Patterson mushroom trial didn't hear
It was a quiet corner of a busy hospital, and the moment Simon Patterson says he finally told his family what he feared most. Inside the chapel at Melbourne's Austin Hospital, with four relatives critically ill nearby, Simon - Erin Patterson's estranged husband - told members of the Patterson and Wilkinson families: 'After the first time I got sick, I had the idea I got sick from Erin's food. I did not give it too much thought.' The meeting, described in testimony never heard by the jury, took place on August 2, 2023, just days after the fatal meal. Simon apologised for not warning them sooner, saying he thought he had been her only target until now. The following day, he sent medical records to relatives. Members of the Wilkinson family then went to police, setting off a chain of events that formed part of the case against Erin Patterson. Alleged attempts before the fatal lunch ADVERTISEMENT A jury has found Victorian woman Erin Patterson guilty of murder, nearly two years after a family lunch ended in tragedy. (Source: 1News) Prosecutors had alleged Erin Patterson tried to kill Simon three times between 2021 and 2022 - including with pasta, chicken curry and a vegetable wrap. In one instance, he was hospitalised for weeks, underwent multiple emergency surgeries and had part of his bowel removed. Simon's GP told a pre-trial hearing he had advised him to keep a food journal to track repeated, unexplained bouts of severe illness. The court heard Simon had become so concerned he even researched potential poisons, including antifreeze and suspected cookies given to him before a family holiday may have been tampered with. Those three attempted murder charges were dropped before trial, after the Court of Appeal ruled all allegations could not be heard together. Warnings and reassurances In the hours before the fatal mushroom lunch in July 2023, some family members were already uneasy. ADVERTISEMENT Simon's sister, Anna Terrington, told the court she voiced concerns to her father, Don, about attending the meal but he reassured her they would be 'OK". Within two days, Don and his wife Gail were in comas, along with family friends Heather and Ian Wilkinson. Dr Chris Webster said her response immediately set off alarm bells. (Source: 1News) Doctor Chris Webster, who treated the victims, recalled being warned early on not to treat the cases as 'common food poisoning' and was told: 'It looks like someone is trying to take out the church community.' The account of the hospital chapel meeting and the earlier alleged poisonings was never put before the jury. Court suppression orders meant the details could not be reported until now. The revelations come just months after Erin Patterson was found guilty of murdering Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, after serving a beef Wellington laced with deadly death cap mushrooms at her Leongatha home. She is due to be sentenced later this year.
