Staring at the jury, an emotionless mushroom cook is found guilty of triple murder

2 months ago 11

Erin Patterson did not react, staring at the jury as the verdict was read out. They had found her guilty of murder and attempted murder after lacing a beef Wellington meal with death cap mushrooms that killed three people.

After six days of deliberations, a jury of seven men and five women returned guilty verdicts in the Supreme Court at Morwell over the deaths of her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson.

They also found her guilty of the attempted murder of Korumburra pastor Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband and the sole survivor of the July 29, 2023 lunch at Patterson’s Leongatha home.

Over a 10-week trial, the jury heard Patterson, 50, had fallen out with her in-laws after her separation from husband Simon turned nasty.

She had also faced charges of repeatedly attempting to murder her estranged husband, but the allegations were discontinued on the eve of the murder trial.

Patterson invited her in-laws and the Wilkinsons to her home that day to falsely tell them she had cancer and ask for their advice on breaking the news to her two children.

Don Patterson, Gail Patterson, Heather Wilkinson and Ian Wilkinson.

Simon Patterson had been invited but pulled out of the event the night before.

Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson died in the days after the fateful meal from the effects of toxic mushroom poisoning. Ian Wilkinson survived, but spent weeks in a coma in hospital.

Erin Patterson had pleaded not guilty to all charges, claiming the deaths were a terrible accident.

During the trial, the jury heard from more than 50 witnesses, including Ian Wilkinson, medical experts, scientists and friends and family of Erin Patterson, including her school-aged children.

Erin Patterson’s Leongatha home, the scene of the fatal lunch.

The prosecution argued Patterson had murderous intent, searched online for death cap mushroom growing locations and purchased a $229 food dehydrator.

They told the jury mobile phone data showed Patterson had visited two sites of death cap mushroom sightings – the South Gippsland towns of Loch and Outtrim – before drying the mushrooms and mixing them into a paste with store-bought varieties, using a RecipeTin Eats cookbook to help construct the individual, toxic beef Wellingtons.

The prosecution also said Patterson used a fake cancer diagnosis to lure her guests to her home, and served the poisoned meals on plates that were a different colour to her own.

“The sinister deception was to use a nourishing meal as the vehicle to deliver the deadly poison,” Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers, SC, told the jury.

When her lunch guests fell critically ill, Patterson dumped the dehydrator at a tip and feigned her own gastroenteritis symptoms.

The court heard Patterson had complained to friends in an online group, who she’d met through a true crime page on Facebook, that Simon Patterson was withholding child support and expressed frustration that her in-laws were failing to intervene.

To some members, the court heard, she also expressed frustrations about her estranged husband and his family, who were part of a Baptist church, which she felt took up a lot of time and focus.

In one of the Facebook messages, Patterson complained that her estranged husband had refused to discuss his side of a shared issue, after which his father, Don, urged the pair to get together and pray.

“This family I swear to f---ing god,” Erin Patterson’s post read.

“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.”

She called Simon Patterson a “deadbeat” and said he needed “to be accountable” for his decision-making that was hurting their children.

“That’s when Don said … they’re staying out of it. I’m sick of this shit I want nothing to do with them,” the post read. “F--- them.”

Simon Patterson outside court after giving evidence earlier to the trial in early May.

In a later message, Patterson wrote: “Simon will just be horrible and gaslighting and abusive and ruin my day. And his parents will be more weasel words. I don’t need anything from these people.”

During eight days in the witness box, the killer denied intending to harm anyone, and told the jury she lied about having a serious illness as a cover for upcoming weight loss surgery.

Patterson told the jury she loved her in-laws, and “they did love me”, but she had felt there was distance forming between them, which sparked the plan for the lunch.

Her defence barrister, Colin Mandy, SC, told the jury his client was not a cold-blooded killer, but instead an isolated worrier trying to gain love and attention.

Mandy said the accused woman told lies, but that didn’t make her a killer, and labelled the case against her illogical and absurd.

The jury dismissed a defence argument that Patterson panicked in the aftermath of the lunch and made a series of poor choices.