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News.com.au
16 hours ago
- Health
- News.com.au
Erin Patterson: Mushroom murder trial jury shown accused woman's police interview a week after fatal lunch
Alleged poisoner Erin Patterson's police interview following the deaths of two of her in-laws has been played publicly for the first time at her trial in the regional Victorian town of Morwell. The mother-of-two has pleaded not guilty to the murder of three of her husband's relatives and the attempted murder of a fourth. Prosecutors allege she deliberately laced a beef wellington lunch with death cap mushrooms, while her defence argues Ms Patterson did not intend to poison anyone. Instead, they argue, the case is a tragic accident. Her husband Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt, Heather Wilkinson died from organ failure in the week following the lunch on July 29. 2023. Heather died on August 4 and 2.50am, Gail died later the same day at 5.55pm and Don died the following day at 11.30pm. Heather's husband, long-serving Korumburra Baptist Church pastor Ian Wilkinson, also fell ill but recovered after a long stint in hospital. This week, in the fifth week of the trial, Ms Patterson's police interview exactly a week after the lunch was played to the jury set to decide the facts of the case. Prosecutor Jane Warren told the court it lasts for 'just under' 21 minutes. Earlier in the trial, the jury was told Ms Patterson was not kept in the loop following the mushroom poisoning and was first informed of Heather and Gail's deaths as police executed a search warrant at her home about 11.40am on August 5. The interview recording, filmed at the Wonthaggi Police Station later the same afternoon, captures Ms Patterson sat across from two homicide squad detectives; Detective leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall and Detective Senior Constable David Martin-Alcaide. Wearing a brown jumper, she sat slightly hunched over the table with the camera capturing the right-hand side of her face. The recording starts with Constable Eppingstall confirming the time as 4.41pm, Ms Patterson's full name and street address. 'All right. Erin, I intend to interview you today in relation to the death of two people, being Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson,' he says. 'Before continuing I must inform you that you do not have to say or do anything but anything you say or do is being recorded and may be used in evidence in court.' 'Okay,' Ms Patterson responds. Constable Eppingstall takes Ms Patterson for her rights, including to speak with a lawyer at any time, before she confirms she does not wish to exercise any of those rights. He tells her both Heather and Gail died a day earlier, while Don had undergone a liver transplant but was 'extremely critical' and the prognosis 'wasn't great' for Ian. 'We're trying to understand what has made them so ill,' Constable Eppingstall says. 'Conversely, we're trying to understand why you're not that ill.' Ms Patterson responds confirming she understands why she is being interviewed, before beginning to explain she's 'never been in a situation like this before'. 'I've been very, very helpful with the health department through the week because I wanted to help that side of things… because I do want to know what happened,' she says. 'I've given them as much information as they've asked for and offered up all the food and all the information about where the food came from.' Detective Eppingstall then points out for the record that Ms Patterson had been 'very helpful' with police at her home earlier that day, pointing out leftovers and the recipe book she used. He mentions that he did not see a lot of food from Asian or Indian grocers at her home. 'Did you look in my fridge? I've got a lot of Asian cooking stuff in my fridge,' she replies. The detective then follows up by asking if Ms Patterson has 'more of that kind of stuff' at her second home in the Melbourne suburb of Mount Waverley. But she tells him no, she cleaned out the pantry and fridge there because she's 'got to sell that place'. Ms Patterson tells the officer she's thinking of selling it to buy a home on Phillip Island where her children are now going to school. Constable Eppingstall shifts the topic of conversation to the mushrooms used to prepare the beef wellington lunch. 'Obviously, we've got concerns in relation to these mushrooms and where they've come from,' he says. The officer asks if Ms Patterson has ever foraged for mushrooms, which she denies, before asking if she had ever preserved foods. 'No,' she replies. 'Have you ever dehydrated food or anything?' he asks. 'No.' Constable Eppinstall then questions Ms Patterson about why she had her estranged husband's parents and aunt and uncle over for lunch. 'Because I've got no other family, so they're the only support I've got… and I want to maintain those relationships with them in spite of what's happened with Simon,' she said. Ms Patterson tells the officers Don and Gail had always been good to her and had promised to continue supporting her after her separation. 'They're the only grandparents that my children have and I want them to stay in my kids' life,' she said. 'And I think Simon hated that I still had a relationship with his parents but I love them.' Questioning moves to Ms Patterson's visit to the local Leongatha Hospital two days after the lunch on July 31 and Constable Eppingstall asks why she left after 5 minutes. 'I just went there thinking I needed a couple of bags of saline 'cause I was really dehydrated,' she responds. 'And they said; 'We want to admit you and send you to Melbourne'.' Ms Patterson said she 'can't just be told to drop everything' and needed to go home to feed her animals and pack her daughter's ballet bag. She tells the officers she later returned where a doctor and apologised for the delay and told her; 'we've got a couple of critical patients'. 'I said, 'That's fine, don't worry about me, I'm just a gastro case'… And he said, 'Oh, what's your name?' and I said, 'Erin,' and he said, 'Oh, we've been expecting you',' Ms Patterson said. She said she was informed her lunch guests were ill and she needed to be taken to Melbourne because it was suspected they had death cap mushroom poisoning. Ms Patterson said she was taken in an ambulance and remained in hospital until the afternoon of August 2. The topic shifts again to Constable Eppingstall promising to give her a list of everything police had seized from her Leongatha home earlier the same day. He raises the find of a Sunbeam dehydrator instruction manual in a kitchen draw, asking if she owned a dehydrator. 'No,' she said. 'I've got manuals for lots of stuff I've collected over the years. I've had all sorts of appliances and I just keep them all. ' I might've had one years ago.' When Constable Eppingstall asks what she would have used a dehydrator for, Ms Patterson starts talking about her Thermomix appliance. 'Like, when I first got the Thermomix I got really excited about, scratch and I did a lot of, you know, like, everything from scratch ingredients,' she says. 'I could've had something like that though.' The officer then continues to list through the items taken from her home, including the Recipetin Eats cookbook, fruit patter, jug of gravy, computers, tablets and phones. Later he shifts the conversation to the leftovers of the beef Wellington lunch, acknowledging Ms Patterson was helpful when police attended her home on July 31 to obtain it. 'What are those leftovers that you directed them to?' Constable Eppingstall questioned. 'That was the uneaten food from the lunch,' Ms Patterson responded. 'It went straight in the bin. And so when I went to the hospital and they said they were concerned that everyone ate some contaminated food I said, 'Well, there's the leftovers in the bin. You can have it'.' Ms Patterson tells the two detectives she initially said 'I'll go and get it' but was told she needed to stay in hospital and instead gave police permission to enter her property. 'So they did that and a bag of food appeared a bit later.' Ms Patterson is then asked if she had any questions, responding 'no', before Constable Eppingstall confirms the time is 5.30pm and suspends the interview. After the video concluded, Justice Christopher Beale informed jurors some irrelevant material had been edited out. 'All right, so ladies and gentlemen, you will notice that it had jumped from time to time. Irrelevant material has been edited out,' he said. The trial continues.
ABC News
2 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Police investigation the focus of mushroom trial's 5th week
Erin Patterson is accused of murdering her parents-in-law and another relative by serving them death cap mushrooms.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Erin Patterson given voice as interview with police fills in some blanks: week five in court
Erin Patterson watched herself on a screen, her voice filling court room four of the Latrobe Valley law courts in Morwell. She had done little but stand up and sit down, and watch on silently, throughout the first 20 days of her triple murder trial, as more than 50 witnesses catalogued their own role in her story. But now she would be heard, as her voice – distorted and tinny – bounced around the court on 27 May. The video had been taken in the Wonthaggi police station on 5 August 2023, a week after the beef wellington lunch. Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to poisoning her four lunch guests – relatives of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson – with the lunch at her house in Leongatha, Victoria, on 29 July 2023. Patterson has pleaded not guilty to murdering Simon's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, Simon's uncle and Heather's husband. Lawyers for Patterson say the death cap mushroom poisoning was a tragic and terrible accident. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email As much as any moment in the trial to date, Patterson's police interview helped give her shape. It filled the blank spaces surrounding the dozens of text messages read into court, or the flattened images of her on CCTV, or the observations of witnesses, speaking about what she had been like before the lunch, or how she acted after. The 21-minute interview was beamed on to at least six screens throughout the court, including a small one to Patterson's left in the dock. 'Donald underwent a transplant last night … and his condition is still extremely critical as of last report,' Det Leading Sen Const Stephen Eppingstall, the officer in charge of investigating the fatal lunch, said to Patterson in the interview. 'Heather and Gail have passed away, all right. In relation to Ian, I don't have a current prognosis in relation to where he's at. As of late yesterday, the diagnosis isn't great for him either, all right. We're trying to understand what has made them so ill. 'Conversely, we're trying to understand why you're not that ill.' Eppingstall could not be seen in the interview, but Patterson's face was closest to the screen, and filled almost a third of the frame. 'I'm sure you understand too that, like, I've never been in a situation like this before … and I've been very, very helpful with the health department through the week because I wanted to help that side of things … as much as possible,' Patterson said. 'Because I do want to know what happened … so I've given them as much information as they've asked for and offered up all the food and all the information about where the food came from.' Eppingstall went on to ask Patterson if she had ever foraged for mushrooms or owned a dehydrator. 'Obviously, we've got concerns in relation to these mushrooms and where they've come from,' he said. 'Mm,' Patterson responded. 'OK. Is that something you've done in the past, foraging for mushrooms?' 'Never.' 'Or anything like that? Never?' 'Never.' Patterson was asked why she had an instruction manual for a Sunbeam Food Lab electronic dehydrator in the far left bottom drawer of her kitchen if she did not own one. She again said she didn't own one, saying: 'I've got manuals for lots of stuff I've collected over the years. I've had all sorts of appliances and I just keep them all.' The court has been shown footage of Patterson dumping the dehydrator at a local tip three days before her police interview. It was later found with her fingerprints on it and with traces of death cap mushrooms, the prosecution told the court. The prosecution argues the evidence in the case proves Patterson did not consume death cap mushrooms at the lunch and pretended she was suffering the same type of illness as the lunch guests 'to cover that up', which also explained her 'reluctance' to receive medical treatment. It is also alleged Patterson lied about getting death cap mushrooms from an Asian grocer, and disposed of the dehydrator 'to conceal what she had done'. Colin Mandy SC, for Patterson, said in his opening remarks to the jury that his client had lied to police about the dehydrator and about foraging, but added that she had never foraged for death cap mushrooms. Eppingstall also asked Patterson during the interview why she had invited her in-laws to lunch. 'You've described to me – relationship with your ex-partner Simon, all right. I'd like to understand why you had his parents and his uncle and auntie over for lunch on the 29th of July,' he said. 'Because I've got no other family so they're the only support I've got … left and they've always been really good to me,' Patterson said. 'I want to maintain those relationships with them in spite of what's happened with Simon. I love them a lot. They've always been really good to me, and they always said to me that they would support me with love and emotional support even though Simon and I were separated and I really appreciated that 'cause my parents are both gone. My grandparents are all gone. They're the only family that I've got. And they're the only grandparents that my children have and I want them to stay in my kids' life. 'And that's really important to me. And I think Simon hated that I still had a relationship with his parents but I – I love them. Nothing that's ever happened between us – nothing he's ever done to me will change the fact that they're good, decent people that have never done anything wrong by me ever.' Patterson was not the only fixture throughout the five weeks of the trial who was finally given voice this week. The other was Eppingstall, who has sat behind the prosecutors, suited and silent, as the witnesses making up the prosecution case were gradually called. This week Eppingstall, the final prosecution witness, took the stand. A tall man, who stood during his four days of giving evidence, he drew several laughs in court, including when Justice Christopher Beale told him he did not have to keep answering 'yes ma'am' to prosecutor Jane Warren. 'You don't have to keep saying 'ma'am',' Beale said. 'Yeah, it's a habit, sir – your honour,' he replied. Eppingstall was asked about a series of messages exchanged between Patterson, Don, Gail and Simon, including evidence tendered by Mandy. These showed Patterson and her in-laws engaging in discussions about her children, their homework, wishing each other love, and, in the case of Don and Gail, saying they would be praying for Patterson, and using phrases such as wishing her and children 'will know God's peace'. Mandy referred to 'context' when he also showed Eppingstall messages exchanged with witnesses known as 'the Facebook friends'. The court previously heard evidence that Patterson criticised Simon and her in-laws in this chat, which had formed as a splinter group from a Facebook chat about the case of Keli Lane. Eppingstall's evidence is set to continue into a fifth day when the trial resumes on Monday.
ABC News
3 days ago
- General
- ABC News
LIVE: Murder trial of accused mushroom killer Erin Patterson continues
Erin Patterson's triple murder trial is continuing in the regional Victorian town of Morwell. Ms Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to murdering three relatives with a beef Wellington meal containing death cap mushrooms. To stay up to date with this story, subscribe to ABC News.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates: Facebook messages about accused killer's family revealed: 'What morons'
00:23 Everything you need to know about the Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial so far Erin Patterson, 50, is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, after allegedly serving them a beef Wellington lunch made with death cap mushrooms. Patterson is also accused of attempting to murder Heather's husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson, who survived the lunch after spending several weeks in an intensive care unit. The court heard Patterson's estranged husband, Simon, was also invited to the gathering at her home in Leongatha, in Victoria's Gippsland region, but didn't attend. Witnesses told the jury Patterson ate her serving from a smaller, differently-coloured plate than those of her guests, who ate off four grey plates. Patterson told authorities she bought dried mushrooms from an unnamed Asian store in the Monash area of Melbourne, but health inspectors could find no evidence of this. Victoria's health department said the death cap mushroom poisoning was 'isolated' to Patterson's deadly lunch. Multiple witnesses, including Erin's estranged husband, Heather's husband and other family members, have given emotion-charged evidence to the jury. Medical staff have told the jury of the painful symptoms the dying lunch guests and Mr Wilkinson suffered. An expert witness told the court death cap mushrooms were detected in debris taken from a dehydrator Patterson had dumped at a local tip. Telecommunications expert Dr Matthew Sorell also told the jury Patterson's phone was detected near areas at Outtrim and Loch, in the Gippsland region, where death cap mushrooms had been spotted. Victoria Police Cybercrime Squad senior digital forensics officer Shamen Fox-Henry said he found evidence of a death cap mushroom on data from a computer seized from Patterson's Leongatha home on August 5, 2023. On Friday, Austin Hospital intensive care director Professor Stephen Warrillow told the jury he was at the Melbourne health facility in July 2023 when the poisoned lunch guests were transferred to his care. Professor Warrillow said all patients were given intense treatment and Don received a liver transplant. Ian Wilkinson sat in court and listened as details of how his wife died from death cap poisoning were aired in court. The jury also heard the text exchanges between health department officer Sally Anne Atkinson and Patterson in the days after the deadly lunch as authorities rushed to solve the cause of the outbreak. On Tuesday, the jury was shown the police interview Patterson took part in shortly after her home was searched on August 5. Detectives seized a manual for a Sunbeam hydrator but Patterson denied in her interview that she had ever owned such an appliance. Patterson also told police she invited her in-laws for lunch because she loved them and they were like real family to her. Homicide Squad detective leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall told the court officers searched for a Samsung Galaxy A23 – known as 'Phone A' – but it was never found. Sen-Constable Eppingstall also said another Samsung Galaxy A23 – known as 'Phone B' – was factory reset multiple times including while police searched Patterson's Leongatha home. He said Phone B was later remotely wiped while it was kept in a secure locker at the Homicide Squad headquarters in Melbourne. The jury also heard Patterson's family had a history of cancer and her daughter had a benign ovarian cancer cyst removed. On Thursday, lead defence barrister Colin Mandy suggested to Sen-Constable Eppingstall that a photo taken during the Leongatha police search depicted the mysterious Phone A. Mr Mandy also highlighted other devices he suggested police failed to seize including laptops and a USB stick. Later, the jury heard Facebook messages between Patterson and her online friends in which they discussed Simon, pets and the death of actress Kirstie Alley. The jury also heard Signal messages between Don and Erin in which Don and Gail (pictured) wished Patterson well and also prayed for her health. The trial continues. What Patterson said about her ex in Facebook group chat The major development of Thursday happened late in the day when defence barrister Colin Mandy SC showed homicide detective Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall Facebook messages between Erin Patterson and her 'online friends'. Mr Mandy (pictured) said they came from a report which contained 186 pages of chat messages between a number of people. The jury heard a friend sent a message: 'What 'morons.' That was followed by: 'Anyway, you weren't asking them to adjudicate, you just wanted them to hear your story'. Patterson responded: 'I said to him about 50 times yesterday that I didn't want them to adjudicate. 'Nobody bloody listens to me. At least I know they're a lost cause.' Another friend wrote: 'If you haven't heard from Simon, invite him for a response.' Another wrote: 'It's pathetic.' A third wrote: 'If he doesn't want to talk about your marriage, they could at least demand to know how he's financially supporting the kids.' Mr Mandy suggested the friends were venting with each other. They also discussed Cheers actress Kirstie Alley's death and their pets.
