Latest news with #CriminalPoisonings
1News
2 days 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.
The Advertiser
2 days ago
- The Advertiser
Patterson husband's poison fears pre-dated deadly lunch
Poisoned penne, toxic curry, a wrap and antifreeze-laced cookies are among the meals Erin Patterson's estranged husband claims she tried to kill him with. The new details, revealed for the first time on Friday, followed the triple murderer's failed bid to keep pre-trial evidence a secret to preserve her appeal rights. Patterson, 50, initially faced three attempted murder charges over allegations from Simon Patterson she'd been trying to poison him since 2021. The attempted murder charges were dropped by prosecutors after Justice Christopher Beale ruled Patterson should face them in a separate trial. Simon revealed the nature of the allegations during pre-trial hearings in 2024, which had been suppressed until a judge ruled in favour of open justice. "Open justice is a fundamental concern of our criminal justice jurisdiction," he told the Supreme Court in Melbourne. Patterson pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder charges of Simon, as well as the three charges of murder and one of attempted murder. Simon alleged Patterson had tried to poison him several times between 2021 and 2022. The first was a penne pasta she cooked him before leaving for a camping trip in November 2021. Simon said he vomited and spent five days in hospital. But the worst was allegedly after consuming a chicken korma curry Patterson made him, during a camping trip at Victoria's high country in late May 2022. "While Erin was preparing food, I was getting the fire going, so I didn't watch her prepare it," Simon told a pre-trial hearing. He began to feel unwell about midnight and was assessed at Mansfield Hospital the next day but discharged. In the days after he got home, Simon's condition worsened and he ended up in a coma and underwent surgery to remove a large portion of his bowel. In September 2022, he fell ill after eating a wrap Patterson prepared for him while they were camping together at Wilsons Promontory. He went to his GP, Christopher Ford, about the alleged poisonings and then had Patterson removed as his medical power of attorney. Dr Ford told a pre-trial hearing Simon was also apprehensive about eating cookies his daughter gave him, as he believed they might have been poisoned with antifreeze. He went on an interstate holiday and Dr Ford said Patterson asked if he had eaten the cookies. "He felt it was odd that she would be so focused asking about the cookies," Dr Ford told a pre-trial hearing. Other pre-trial evidence released for the first time included documents about poisoning found on devices police seized from Patterson's home. These included an appendix from a 2007 book titled Criminal Poisonings, which listed the colour, odour, taste and lethal dose of poisons. Another piece of evidence, a Facebook post to a poisons page, was not shown to the jury. "My cat chewed on this mushroom just now," the post said. "He is having a vomit. Was in grassland near trees, I'm in Victoria Australia." None of this information has been proven or tested before a jury because it was ruled out of the triple murder trial. Patterson was found guilty by a jury of the murder of Simon's parents, Don and Gail, 70, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, 66, along with the attempted murder of her husband Ian Wilkinson. The jury found Patterson deliberately poisoned her four lunch guests in July 2023 by serving them death cap mushroom-laced beef Wellingtons. Patterson will face a two-day pre-sentence hearing later in August, during which she will listen to statements from the Pattersons and Wilkinsons. The plea hearing is on August 25 and 26. Patterson will have 28 days to appeal after she is sentenced. Poisoned penne, toxic curry, a wrap and antifreeze-laced cookies are among the meals Erin Patterson's estranged husband claims she tried to kill him with. The new details, revealed for the first time on Friday, followed the triple murderer's failed bid to keep pre-trial evidence a secret to preserve her appeal rights. Patterson, 50, initially faced three attempted murder charges over allegations from Simon Patterson she'd been trying to poison him since 2021. The attempted murder charges were dropped by prosecutors after Justice Christopher Beale ruled Patterson should face them in a separate trial. Simon revealed the nature of the allegations during pre-trial hearings in 2024, which had been suppressed until a judge ruled in favour of open justice. "Open justice is a fundamental concern of our criminal justice jurisdiction," he told the Supreme Court in Melbourne. Patterson pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder charges of Simon, as well as the three charges of murder and one of attempted murder. Simon alleged Patterson had tried to poison him several times between 2021 and 2022. The first was a penne pasta she cooked him before leaving for a camping trip in November 2021. Simon said he vomited and spent five days in hospital. But the worst was allegedly after consuming a chicken korma curry Patterson made him, during a camping trip at Victoria's high country in late May 2022. "While Erin was preparing food, I was getting the fire going, so I didn't watch her prepare it," Simon told a pre-trial hearing. He began to feel unwell about midnight and was assessed at Mansfield Hospital the next day but discharged. In the days after he got home, Simon's condition worsened and he ended up in a coma and underwent surgery to remove a large portion of his bowel. In September 2022, he fell ill after eating a wrap Patterson prepared for him while they were camping together at Wilsons Promontory. He went to his GP, Christopher Ford, about the alleged poisonings and then had Patterson removed as his medical power of attorney. Dr Ford told a pre-trial hearing Simon was also apprehensive about eating cookies his daughter gave him, as he believed they might have been poisoned with antifreeze. He went on an interstate holiday and Dr Ford said Patterson asked if he had eaten the cookies. "He felt it was odd that she would be so focused asking about the cookies," Dr Ford told a pre-trial hearing. Other pre-trial evidence released for the first time included documents about poisoning found on devices police seized from Patterson's home. These included an appendix from a 2007 book titled Criminal Poisonings, which listed the colour, odour, taste and lethal dose of poisons. Another piece of evidence, a Facebook post to a poisons page, was not shown to the jury. "My cat chewed on this mushroom just now," the post said. "He is having a vomit. Was in grassland near trees, I'm in Victoria Australia." None of this information has been proven or tested before a jury because it was ruled out of the triple murder trial. Patterson was found guilty by a jury of the murder of Simon's parents, Don and Gail, 70, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, 66, along with the attempted murder of her husband Ian Wilkinson. The jury found Patterson deliberately poisoned her four lunch guests in July 2023 by serving them death cap mushroom-laced beef Wellingtons. Patterson will face a two-day pre-sentence hearing later in August, during which she will listen to statements from the Pattersons and Wilkinsons. The plea hearing is on August 25 and 26. Patterson will have 28 days to appeal after she is sentenced. Poisoned penne, toxic curry, a wrap and antifreeze-laced cookies are among the meals Erin Patterson's estranged husband claims she tried to kill him with. The new details, revealed for the first time on Friday, followed the triple murderer's failed bid to keep pre-trial evidence a secret to preserve her appeal rights. Patterson, 50, initially faced three attempted murder charges over allegations from Simon Patterson she'd been trying to poison him since 2021. The attempted murder charges were dropped by prosecutors after Justice Christopher Beale ruled Patterson should face them in a separate trial. Simon revealed the nature of the allegations during pre-trial hearings in 2024, which had been suppressed until a judge ruled in favour of open justice. "Open justice is a fundamental concern of our criminal justice jurisdiction," he told the Supreme Court in Melbourne. Patterson pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder charges of Simon, as well as the three charges of murder and one of attempted murder. Simon alleged Patterson had tried to poison him several times between 2021 and 2022. The first was a penne pasta she cooked him before leaving for a camping trip in November 2021. Simon said he vomited and spent five days in hospital. But the worst was allegedly after consuming a chicken korma curry Patterson made him, during a camping trip at Victoria's high country in late May 2022. "While Erin was preparing food, I was getting the fire going, so I didn't watch her prepare it," Simon told a pre-trial hearing. He began to feel unwell about midnight and was assessed at Mansfield Hospital the next day but discharged. In the days after he got home, Simon's condition worsened and he ended up in a coma and underwent surgery to remove a large portion of his bowel. In September 2022, he fell ill after eating a wrap Patterson prepared for him while they were camping together at Wilsons Promontory. He went to his GP, Christopher Ford, about the alleged poisonings and then had Patterson removed as his medical power of attorney. Dr Ford told a pre-trial hearing Simon was also apprehensive about eating cookies his daughter gave him, as he believed they might have been poisoned with antifreeze. He went on an interstate holiday and Dr Ford said Patterson asked if he had eaten the cookies. "He felt it was odd that she would be so focused asking about the cookies," Dr Ford told a pre-trial hearing. Other pre-trial evidence released for the first time included documents about poisoning found on devices police seized from Patterson's home. These included an appendix from a 2007 book titled Criminal Poisonings, which listed the colour, odour, taste and lethal dose of poisons. Another piece of evidence, a Facebook post to a poisons page, was not shown to the jury. "My cat chewed on this mushroom just now," the post said. "He is having a vomit. Was in grassland near trees, I'm in Victoria Australia." None of this information has been proven or tested before a jury because it was ruled out of the triple murder trial. Patterson was found guilty by a jury of the murder of Simon's parents, Don and Gail, 70, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, 66, along with the attempted murder of her husband Ian Wilkinson. The jury found Patterson deliberately poisoned her four lunch guests in July 2023 by serving them death cap mushroom-laced beef Wellingtons. Patterson will face a two-day pre-sentence hearing later in August, during which she will listen to statements from the Pattersons and Wilkinsons. The plea hearing is on August 25 and 26. Patterson will have 28 days to appeal after she is sentenced. Poisoned penne, toxic curry, a wrap and antifreeze-laced cookies are among the meals Erin Patterson's estranged husband claims she tried to kill him with. The new details, revealed for the first time on Friday, followed the triple murderer's failed bid to keep pre-trial evidence a secret to preserve her appeal rights. Patterson, 50, initially faced three attempted murder charges over allegations from Simon Patterson she'd been trying to poison him since 2021. The attempted murder charges were dropped by prosecutors after Justice Christopher Beale ruled Patterson should face them in a separate trial. Simon revealed the nature of the allegations during pre-trial hearings in 2024, which had been suppressed until a judge ruled in favour of open justice. "Open justice is a fundamental concern of our criminal justice jurisdiction," he told the Supreme Court in Melbourne. Patterson pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder charges of Simon, as well as the three charges of murder and one of attempted murder. Simon alleged Patterson had tried to poison him several times between 2021 and 2022. The first was a penne pasta she cooked him before leaving for a camping trip in November 2021. Simon said he vomited and spent five days in hospital. But the worst was allegedly after consuming a chicken korma curry Patterson made him, during a camping trip at Victoria's high country in late May 2022. "While Erin was preparing food, I was getting the fire going, so I didn't watch her prepare it," Simon told a pre-trial hearing. He began to feel unwell about midnight and was assessed at Mansfield Hospital the next day but discharged. In the days after he got home, Simon's condition worsened and he ended up in a coma and underwent surgery to remove a large portion of his bowel. In September 2022, he fell ill after eating a wrap Patterson prepared for him while they were camping together at Wilsons Promontory. He went to his GP, Christopher Ford, about the alleged poisonings and then had Patterson removed as his medical power of attorney. Dr Ford told a pre-trial hearing Simon was also apprehensive about eating cookies his daughter gave him, as he believed they might have been poisoned with antifreeze. He went on an interstate holiday and Dr Ford said Patterson asked if he had eaten the cookies. "He felt it was odd that she would be so focused asking about the cookies," Dr Ford told a pre-trial hearing. Other pre-trial evidence released for the first time included documents about poisoning found on devices police seized from Patterson's home. These included an appendix from a 2007 book titled Criminal Poisonings, which listed the colour, odour, taste and lethal dose of poisons. Another piece of evidence, a Facebook post to a poisons page, was not shown to the jury. "My cat chewed on this mushroom just now," the post said. "He is having a vomit. Was in grassland near trees, I'm in Victoria Australia." None of this information has been proven or tested before a jury because it was ruled out of the triple murder trial. Patterson was found guilty by a jury of the murder of Simon's parents, Don and Gail, 70, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, 66, along with the attempted murder of her husband Ian Wilkinson. The jury found Patterson deliberately poisoned her four lunch guests in July 2023 by serving them death cap mushroom-laced beef Wellingtons. Patterson will face a two-day pre-sentence hearing later in August, during which she will listen to statements from the Pattersons and Wilkinsons. The plea hearing is on August 25 and 26. Patterson will have 28 days to appeal after she is sentenced.
7NEWS
3 days ago
- 7NEWS
Erin Patterson: What jury weren't allowed to see in her triple mushroom murder trial
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. 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 on Friday. 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, Mr 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.' 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. Mr 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,' Mr Mandy told pre-trial. 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.
Perth Now
3 days ago
- Perth Now
Penchant for poison: what the mushroom jury didn't hear
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. 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 on Friday. 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, Mr 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." 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. Mr 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," Mr Mandy told pre-trial. 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.
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
The secret poison papers and an imaginary cat: What the jury didn't hear in Erin Patterson's trial
It was a trial that laid bare Erin Patterson's life for the world to see, post by post, detail by intimate detail. Here was a woman on trial for murder, who spoke about being weighed on scales by her mother as a child, scolded for becoming fat. Here was a family whose most intimate tensions in a private chat were exposed and beamed onto courtroom walls, message after message. Here was a courtroom that heard, over and over, of roadside stops filled with diarrhoea and of the need for doggy bags filled with soiled tissues. Here was a jury that heard nearly every intricate detail leading up to the fatal mushroom lunch. Almost. Patterson was eventually convicted of three counts of murder and one of attempted murder over the beef Wellington lunch on July 29, 2023 that killed her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, friend Heather Wilkinson and left local pastor Ian Wilkinson in a coma. Here are the pieces of evidence the jury never heard: Poisonous plants and homicidal toxins Documents on poisons were found on Patterson's electronic devices during a police search of her Leongatha home. A pre-trial hearing was told she'd accessed a 2007 book titled Criminal Poisonings, from which police had discovered she'd saved a single appendix – 'common homicidal poisons' – onto her Samsung tablet. The deep dive of Patterson's electronic footprint also uncovered a string of other findings, including an article about 50 cases of red kidney bean poisoning in the UK from 1976 to 1989, and a string of Google searches for words including 'poison' and 'hemlock', a highly poisonous flowering plant. Patterson's devices had also accessed the iNaturalist website and a post made in September 2022 that pinpointed the location of a suspected sighting of hemlock at Loch in Gippsland. On a third mobile phone seized by police they also found a paper the jury was never told about titled O ne step Purification and Characterisation of Abrin Toxin from Abrus Precatorius Seeds, about extracting toxic material from seeds. A black Scorptec computer recovered from Patterson's home revealed a 2011 Victorian Naturalist journal that referenced death cap mushrooms growing under oak trees. This was also excluded, but the judge's reasons why were not aired in open court. The poisoning of Simon Patterson A key part of the police investigation was that the deaths of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson weren't the first time the accused had dabbled with poisons. At the same time as her murder charges over the trio's deaths, and an attempted murder count for lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson, police had also slapped Erin Patterson with three counts of attempted murder. The charges related to alleged attempts to kill Simon Patterson – the father of her two children – in 2021 and 2022. They maintained that medical evidence showed Simon Patterson had become severely unwell after eating meals prepared by the accused killer, even ending up in intensive care and losing part of his bowel on one occasion. The pre-trial hearing was told that Erin Patterson cooked Simon Patterson penne bolognese on September 19, 2021, before he was hospitalised in Leongatha with gastro-related symptoms. She cooked him chicken curry during a trip to Howqua in May 2022, followed by a chicken curry wrap on a trip to Wilsons Promontory in September 2022. Both times, he ended up in hospital with severe bouts of illness, including one that placed him in a coma for 16 days before three parts of his bowel were removed during emergency surgery. Prosecutors also told the court of a fourth meal, of beef and rice, in mid-2022 that Erin Patterson was never charged over. They claimed the meal prompted another trip to hospital for Simon. The prosecution said they wanted the jury to hear this evidence because it helped prove their assertion that the deadly beef Wellington lunch was no accident. Shortly before the trial, the prosecution revealed they'd also discovered an article on barium carbonate – also known as rat poison – which was accessed on one of Erin Patterson's electronic devices about the time of her estranged husband's third hospital admission. They said a medical expert could provide evidence that Simon Patterson's sudden onset of illness at that time was consistent with barium carbonate poisoning. But the defence argued there was no rock-solid evidence that their client ever tried to kill her estranged husband, and there was no animosity between the pair at those times. They said they feared that if the jury was allowed to hear about the allegations, there was a danger they would misuse the evidence and punish the accused woman unfairly. Prosecutors had one final dip at getting the evidence before the jury, taking the matter to the Court of Appeal. But after also losing that fight, they decided on the eve of the trial to drop the three attempted murder charges relating to Simon Patterson, and he was restricted from talking about it during his evidence to the jury. True crime fans and friendships One piece of evidence the jury did hear was Erin Patterson's connection to a true-crime fan page named 'Keep Keli Lane Behind Bars'. Loading Lane was a former Australian water polo player jailed in NSW for killing her newborn baby in the '90s. The group discussed absolutely everything, Patterson would tell the jury. Their children and families, recipes, world events, politics and true crime. But the interest of page members spread much further than Lane, and the intricate details of what they talked about were kept from the jury. Daniela Barkley joined when there were about 50 members; it eventually ballooned into a few thousand. 'We just discussed mainly the Keli Lane case and very often people post news articles or links to news about other cases that were coming up in the media. Anything true crime-related,' Barkley said. The court heard Patterson was an involved member, undertaking crime-related research and was known to have a large collection of books on the subject. But when the group began to implode due to personal conflicts, arguments and allegations of bullying, Barkley started a breakaway group with people she believed were 'sane', including Erin Patterson. In this group, Erin Patterson would complain about her in-laws and issues she was having with her estranged husband. But in the aftermath of the fatal lunch, the group was thrust in the midst of a real crime drama. At a pre-trial hearing, group member Jenny Hay revealed she and others worked like amateur detectives to try and get to the bottom of what had happened. Patterson deleted her Facebook page following the lunch and later reactivated it unexpectedly. Her online associates noticed her profile, titled Erin Erin Erin, had disappeared and that she was using a new profile name during her return to the online space. As the official police investigation drew on, rifts began to emerge between the online friends. Christine Hunt told the court fellow group member Shelly Ridyard, who was later dropped from the witness list, allegedly began outing witnesses who'd spoken to police. 'I sent her a message that it was inappropriate to be commenting online, and it was against what we signed as witnesses. She made negative comments to me and blocked me,' Hunt said. While three of the women later testified in the trial, the defence had tried to have their evidence spiked, removing Ridyard altogether, telling the judge that Patterson's interest in the true crime genre was 'irrelevant', and the women had never met in person. 'A powerful sense of the gossip and rumours that was occurring on that forum both before these events and after these events, and the ways in which those people communicated to each other and told each other things about what was going on, which is extraordinary,' Mandy said. Barkley admitted she listened to podcast episodes on the case the same day they came out and was penning a book on the mushroom case. She contacted a journalist she believed was also writing a book because she thought it would spark healthy competition. 'It's all very infected evidence,' Mandy argued. A murky, gossipy underworld. Mushroom trips The Morwell jury was taken in detail through evidence gleaned from mobile phone cell towers about the movements of Erin Patterson's phone in the months before the fatal lunch, to areas including Loch and Outtrim in Gippsland. But there were other outings that prosecutors initially planned to tell the jury about. They included possible visits to the area on April 29, 2023 and May 5, 2023. The timing was important because the police case was that Erin Patterson had made the trip to Loch and stayed there for approximately an hour. 'Then she goes to Leongatha and buys a dehydrator,' Crown prosecutor Jane Warren said. The defence argued the 'pings' could be in line with Erin Patterson simply driving around her home town, because country cell towers are more spread apart than in metropolitan areas. Prosecutors eventually abandoned attempts to get the trips into evidence because of a lack of granular data. Household rubbish bins Plenty of people forget to put the rubbish out on bin night. But prosecutors claimed Erin Patterson's oversight was evidence that her later trip to a tip was nefarious. The court heard Erin Patterson's household bins had plenty of space for further rubbish. So her trip to Koonwarra transfer station to dispose of a black Sunbeam dehydrator was unnecessary – unless she never wanted it to be found. 'This wasn't an ordinary lunch, this is a lunch at which the accused served a meal that contained poison,' prosecutor Sarah Lenthall argued. 'This wasn't an innocent trip to the tip.' Erin Patterson's imaginary cat Erin Patterson had many pets, including a dog and goats. But she didn't have any cats. Which is what made one post to her Facebook friends all the more peculiar. 'My cat chewed on this mushroom right now, he's having a vomit,' Erin Patterson wrote, with a picture attached. Loading The court heard an SD card found at her Leongatha home during a police search contained a string of mushroom photographs, both foraged and growing in the wild. Also on the device was the picture of the cat she never owned. The cat picture seemed strange but innocuous in pre-trial argument, coming up again at the pointy end of the trial and twice delaying the case as the prosecution and the defence argued about showing it to the jury. Mandy made a last-ditch bid to bring the evidence, earlier ruled out by the judge, back in to support his client's claims that she picked mushrooms. But he only wanted to show the jury images of mushrooms, not of the cat. When he was permitted to do so, some of the photographs – less than a dozen – were shown to the jury. In the end, the cat stayed in the bag by agreement.
