Australian woman convicted on all counts in mushroom murders case
Erin Patterson, 50, was charged with the murders of her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, along with the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband.
The four gathered at Erin Patterson's home in Leongatha, a town of about 6,000 people some 84 miles southeast of Melbourne, where the mother of two served them a meal of individual Beef Wellingtons accompanied by mashed potato and green beans, which were later found to contain death cap mushrooms.
On Monday, the jury in the case found her guilty of all four charges, the court heard in Morwell, a town around two hours east of Melbourne where the trial was being held.
Patterson, who had pleaded not guilty to all charges, saying the deaths were accidental, will be sentenced at a later date.
The 10-week trial attracted huge global interest, with local and international media descending on Court 4 at the Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court in Morwell, the nearest court to Patterson's home where she had requested to be tried, despite being warned of lengthy delays.
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Daily Mail
25 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Inside the personal life of Erin Patterson as her eye-watering wealth is revealed after the mother-of-two was found guilty of mushroom poisoning
Court testimony has revealed details about Erin Patterson 's personal life before she was found guilty of murdering her three in-laws with death cap mushrooms in a beef Wellington that she served at her home for lunch. Patterson's father-in-law and mother-in-law Don and Gail Patterson and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson died after the lunch at her Leongatha home, in south-east Victoria, on July 29, 2023. Following a 10-week trial and seven days of deliberation, Patterson was found guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, as Heather's husband, Pastor Ian Wilkinson, survived the deadly meal. Details of Patterson's personal life were aired in court during the trial, including the extent of her wealth, which included $2million from her paternal grandmother's estate. Patterson was raised in a brick home on a quiet street in Glen Waverley - a middle-class suburb in Melbourne 's south-east. Her mother, Heather Scutter, was a respected lecturer at Monash University and an expert in children's literature, and her father, Eitan Scutter, held director roles in multiple Australian companies. Those who knew Patterson from her younger days described her as being a smart and witty woman. However, in her childhood, Patterson told the court she developed an eating disorder and low self-esteem - a battle which remained with her into her adult life. In her mid-20s, Patterson left her science course and pursued a degree in accounting. In 2001, she also sat for an Air Services class photo - which included all the trainee air traffic controllers for that year. She became one of the few people to make it through the training program after successfully passing the notoriously difficult air traffic controller test. Former colleagues described Erin as a solitary, odd and strange young woman who was a bit of a loner and could be abrupt, abrasive and rude. She was also the only person in the 14-person air traffic controller training group who declined every invitation to social activities and events. Accounts from former air traffic controller colleagues painted a picture of Patterson as a crafty employee who would call in sick pretending to be other workers so that she could pick up lucrative shifts. Patterson was not an air traffic controller for long before she transitioned to working in animal management for the RSPCA at Monash City Council. It was here, in 2004, where she met her ex-husband Simon Patterson who was working at the council as a civil engineer. In his testimony to the court, Mr Patterson described his former wife as 'very intelligent', 'witty' and 'quiet funny'. He added the pair got to know each other as part of a 'fairly electric' group of friends before they developed a romantic relationship. 'I guess some of the things that attracted me to her in the first place was definitely her intelligence,' Mr Patterson testified. 'She is quite witty and can be quite funny.' Patterson was involved in a drunken crash, where she was almost three times over the legal limit, the same year she met her now-estranged husband. Court records revealed she had been driving an unregistered car and fled the scene of the crash. She was also caught driving 35km/h over the 60km/h speed limit. Patterson pleaded guilty to five charges. She was fined $1,000 and had her licence cancelled and was disqualified from driving in Victoria for two and a half years. In her testimony, she told the court she was a 'fundamental atheist' and initially tried to convert Mr Patterson, who was a devout Christian. 'Things happened in reverse and I became a Christian,' Patterson told the jury. She explained she experienced a 'spiritual experience' while on a camping trip when the pair attended a service at Korumburra Baptist church where Simon's uncle, Ian Wilkinson, was a pastor. 'I'd been approaching religion as an intellectual exercise up until that point,' Patterson said. 'But I had what I would call a religious experience there and it quite overwhelmed me.' In June 2007, the Pattersons were married. The wedding was held at Don and Gail's Korumburra home and Simon's cousin, David Wilkinson, walked Patterson down the aisle. Patterson told the court her parents did not attend the wedding as they were on holiday travelling across Russia on a train. In July 2006, her paternal grandmother Ora Scutter died, leaving her significant estate to her two sons and seven grandchildren. Mr Patterson told the court his ex-wife's share of the estate ended up being about $2million, which was paid out across eight years from 2007. Soon afterwards, the pair quit their council jobs and set off on a cross-country trip, travelling around Australia. When they reached Western Australia, the pair settled down and bought a house without a mortgage. In January 2009, they welcomed their first child, after what Patterson called the 'very traumatic' birth of her son. Her experience led to a mistrust of doctors, with Patterson telling the jury she would often question whether they knew what they were doing. On the stand, Patterson said Don and Gail stayed with them after the birth of her son and described Gail as being 'really supportive, and gentle and patient'. 'I remember being really relieved that Gail was there because I felt really out of my depth,' Patterson said. The pair did not stay in the rural community for long and just a few months later packed up their home and moved to Townsville. After months of travelling, Patterson said she had had enough and wanted to fly back to Perth while Mr Patterson and their son drove back to Western Australia. This led to the couple's first separation in late 2009, with Patterson and her son living in a rental while Mr Patterson lived in a caravan nearby for six months. The couple underwent marriage counselling before reuniting when Mr Patterson moved to the wheatbelt town of York where he worked for council as a civil engineer. For a time, the couple also lived in Quinninup, in Western Australia's southwest, where Patterson opened a second-hand bookstore in the small rural town of Pemberton. Mr Patterson told the court there were other brief periods of separation while they lived in Western Australia before they moved back to Victoria in 2013. In 2014, the pair welcomed their second child, a girl, and also bought a family home in Korumburra to be close to Mr Patterson's family. The couple separated for a final time in late 2015. When asked about the separation, Patterson told the jury she believed the key issue was communication. 'Primarily what we struggled with over the entire course of our relationship … we just couldn't communicate well when we disagreed about something,' Patterson said. 'We could never communicate in a way that made each of us feel heard or understood, so we would just feel hurt and not know how to resolve it.' The pair remained close and co-operative, with Patterson explaining she kept close to her father and mother-in-law and would attend family events. 'It never changed. I was just their daughter-in-law and they just continued to love me,' Patterson said. The court heard Patterson inherited a large amount of money after her mother passed away from cancer in 2019. Eight years earlier, Patterson's father had also died from cancer, which meant her grandmother's entire estate was left to her and her sister. Her parent's beachfront retirement home in Eden sold for $900,000, with part of the money used to buy a block of land at Gibson Street in Leongatha. Patterson built a family home on the block of land, the home which became the location of the deadly lunch. She registered the home, and also a property in Glen Waverley, as shared ownership with Mr Patterson. Mr Patterson told the jury he believed Patterson put his name on the titles because she was committed to their family and that she remained hopeful for a reconciliation. The court heard from three witnesses who became acquainted with Patterson in 2020 through an online true crime Facebook group. Patterson began socially chatting with others during the Covid pandemic and well into 2023. Non-profit manager Christine Hunt told the court Patterson was known as the group's 'super-sleuth', claiming she uncovered details of true crime cases they discussed. Daniela Barkley, a stay-at-home mum, described Patterson to the jury as a 'wonderful' mother but recalled she would often air issues about her husband and his family. In a series of messages sent to the group in 2022 between December 6 and 9, Patterson complained about her 'deadbeat' partner and his 'lost cause' family. 'I'm sick of this s*** I want nothing to do with them. I thought his parents would want him to do the right thing but it seems their concern about not wanting to feel uncomfortable and not wanting to get involved in their son's personal matters are overriding that so f*** em,' one message read. Mr Patterson claimed that while they remained friendly during separation, things changed in 2022 when his relationship status on his tax return was changed to single. He told the court the status change was the result of a mix-up with his accountant. 'She discovered that my tax return for the previous year for the first time noted we were separated,' Mr Patterson said. The Trial of Erin Patterson is available now, wherever you get your podcasts. Listen here Patterson told him the move would impact the family tax benefit the couple had previously enjoyed and she was obliged to now claim child support. 'She was upset about it,' he said. Patterson also wanted child support and the school fees paid. However, Mr Patterson said he was advised by authorities to stop paying for school fees and medical bills he had been previously covering. The move upset his increasingly estranged wife and the court heard Patterson had even changed the children's school without consulting their father. In the end, the jury had to weigh up all the evidence and sift through the testimony of those who took the stand. The mother-of-two sat defiantly throughout her 10-week trial, glaring at the media, members of the public and the family of the people she murdered. The unassuming Victorian woman drew international attention after three of her husband's family died following a lunch at her Leongatha home, in south-east Victoria, on July 29, 2023. Patterson pleaded not guilty to the murders of Don and Gail Patterson - her husband's parents - and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson. Only Heather's husband, Pastor Ian Wilkinson, survived her plot - a blunder Patterson would live to regret, and will now serve time for after also being found guilty of attempting to murder him. Prosecutors argued Patterson had intentionally sourced the poisonous mushrooms with the intent to kill or seriously injure her four guests. Following seven days of deliberation, the jury returned to Latrobe Valley court on Monday and delivered a unanimous guilty verdict on all four charges. The estranged wife, devoted mother-of-two, multi-millionaire and generous in-law was deemed a callous killer. With three murder convictions and one attempted murder conviction, Patterson will be sentenced at a later date.
The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Chilling moment mushroom murderer Erin Patterson discharges herself from hospital sparking panic after fatal meal
THIS is the chilling moment murderer Erin Patterson discharges herself from hospital - sparking panic after she served her fatal meal. The killer mushroom cook has since been found guilty of killing her in-laws at a deadly lunch. 15 15 15 Patterson was accused of hiding deadly mushrooms in a meal to murder her estranged husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66. She was also accused of attempting to murder Wilkinson's husband Ian by serving a beef wellington laced with poisonous death cap mushrooms. Patterson pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one of attempted murder for the July 29, 2023, incident. A sentencing date is yet to be scheduled. Bombshell footage shows Patterson discharging herself against medical advice from Leongatha hospital - after being told she had potentially been food poisoned. Footage released by the Supreme Court of Victoria shows a medic attempting to stop Patterson as she tries to leave, pressing the buzzer to open the hospital door. Her "discharge at own risk" document was revealed, showing she chose to leave from the hospital on her "own responsibility against the advice of the medical officer/senior nursing staff". Moments after leaving, a hospital worker is captured on CCTV using gloves to inspect the leftover deadly beef wellington after police retrieved it from Patterson's bin - before taking a picture of it. A call to the police a hospital doctor made was also shown in court. Dr Chris Webster is heard saying on the phone: "I have a concern regarding a patient that presented here earlier but has left the building and is potentially exposed to a fatal toxin from mushroom poisoning. 'Mushroom killer' Erin Patterson GUILTY of murdering three relatives with deadly beef wellington "And I've tried several times to get hold of her on her mobile phone. "So there were five people that 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. "While I was attending the other patients, the nurse informed me that she had discharged herself against medical advice." Meanwhile in other CCTV footage released by the Supreme Court of Victoria shows Patterson trying to cover her tracks by dumping the food dehydrator she used in her twisted murder plot. Wearing a long coat and sunglasses, Patterson is seen unloading the food dehydrator at the Koonwarra Transfer Station on August 2, 2023 - an apparent attempt to erase evidence linked to the deadly beef wellington meal. And in a chilling image also released by the court, the meal that left her family dying in agony is laid out next to forensic evidence bags. 15 15 15 The annotated photo was taken during toxicology testing at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. It shows plates containing remnants of the now-infamous dish - prepared and served by Patterson in her Leongatha home. Patterson's three chilling words to her best friend after the guilty verdict stunned court observers. As she was led back to the cells, she reportedly told Alison Rose Prior: "See you soon." The pal, in tears, vowed she would visit Patterson in prison, despite the damning verdict. 'I'm her friend and I'll see her – I'll visit with her,' she told reporters outside the courthouse. In a bizarre prelude to the verdict, Patterson reportedly had black tarps installed around her Leongatha home just days before the jury returned with a decision. And in the aftermath of the verdict, chilling new medical insight has emerged. A leading US expert on amatoxin poisoning claims the victims never stood a chance — not because of the mushrooms alone, but due to Australia's outdated treatment protocols. The specialist, who asked not to be named, slammed the use of the drug silibinin. They told the Daily Mail it is 'virtually useless' without aggressive hydration and proper kidney function — both of which may have been compromised in the dying victims. According to the expert, Australian physicians, unfamiliar with such rare cases, were forced to rely on 'past wisdom' around the milk thistle-based drug. 15 15 15 15 15 But once patients' organs began shutting down from severe dehydration, the drug couldn't help. 'They went from sick to catastrophic in a short space of time,' he said. They added that the silibinin treatment could have backfired if IV fluids were reduced to manage brain swelling — a common emergency response that may have sealed their fate. The expert went on to say the victims' organs likely entered a rapid death spiral, especially once their kidneys stopped flushing out the deadly amatoxin. 'Lose the kidneys and all of the amatoxin in circulation gets taken up by the liver,' he warned. Only Ian Wilkinson, the lone survivor, lived long enough for a liver transplant — a rare intervention that ultimately saved him. Patterson claimed to have purchased dehydrated mushrooms at an Asian supermarket in Melbourne, Australia. But she couldn't remember exactly where she had bought them from. Despite Patterson pleading not guilty, she did accept that death cap mushrooms were in the meal she served. But she argued she didn't intend to harm anyone and that the mushrooms were just a tragic accident. All of Patterson's victims were related to her estranged husband Simon and died from liver failure within a week of the fatal lunch. 15 15 15
BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Korumburra: The community where Erin Patterson's mushroom murders took place
The winters in Victoria's Gippsland region are known for being chilly. Frost is a frequent visitor overnight, and the days are often in the small town of Korumburra - a part of Australia surrounded by low, rolling hills - it's not just the weather that's gloomy; the mood here is plainly is where all of Erin Patterson's victims made their home. Don and Gail Patterson, her in-laws, had lived there since 1984. They brought up their four children in the town of 5,000. Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson lived nearby - her husband Ian was the pastor at the local Baptist four were invited to Erin's house on 29 July 2023 for a family lunch that only Ian would survive, after a liver transplant and weeks in an induced on Monday a jury rejected Erin's claim she accidentally served her guests toxic mushrooms, finding her guilty of three counts of murder and one of attempted 10-week trial caused a massive stir globally, but here in Korumburra they don't want to talk about it. They just want to return to their lives after what has been a difficult two years."It's not an easy thing to go through a grieving process... and it's particularly not easy when there's been so much attention," cattle farmer and councillor for the shire Nathan Hersey told the BBC."There's an opportunity now for a lot of people to be able to have some closure." The locals are fiercely loyal - he's one of the few people who is willing to explain what this ordeal has meant for the many in the region."It's the sort of place that you can be embraced in very quickly and made to feel you are part of it," he those who died clearly helped build that much everyone of a certain generation in town was taught by former school teacher Don Patterson: "You'll hear a lot of people talk very fondly of Don, about the impact he had on them."He was a great teacher and a really engaging person as well." And Mr Hersey says he has heard many, many tales of Heather and Gail's generosity and to the Korumburra Baptist Church noticeboard is a short statement paying tribute to the trio, who were "very special people who loved God and loved to bless others"."We all greatly miss Heather, Don and Gail whether we were friends for a short time or over 20 years," it not just Korumburra that's been changed by the tragedy though. This part of rural Victoria is dotted with small towns and hamlets, which may at first appear quite reality is they are held together by close ties - ties which this case has nearby Outtrim, the residents of Neilson Street – an unassuming gravel road host to a handful of houses – have been left reeling by the prosecution claim their gardens may have produced the murder was one of two locations where death cap mushrooms were sighted and posted on iNaturalist, a citizen science website. Pointing to cell phone tracking data, the prosecution alleged that Erin Patterson went to both to forage for the lethal fungi."Everyone knows somebody who has been affected by this case," Ian Thoms tells the BBC from his small farm on Nielson Street. He rattles off his list. His son is a police detective. His wife works with the daughter of the only survivor Ian. His neighbour is good friends with "Funky Tom", the renowned mushroom expert called upon by the prosecution – who coincidentally was also the person who had posted the sighting of the fungi the road another 15 minutes is Leongatha, where Erin Patterson's home sits among other sprawling properties on an unpaved bought a plot of land here with a generous inheritance from her mother and built the house assuming she would live here has been sitting empty for about 18 months, a sign on the gate telling trespassers to keep out. A neighbour's sheep intermittently drop by to mow the grass. This week, the livestock was gone, and a black tarpaulin had been erected around the carport and the entrance to her a sense of intrigue among some of the neighbours, but there's also a lot of weariness. Every day there are gawkers driving down the lane to see the place where the tragic meal happened. One neighbour even reckons she saw a tour bus trundle past the house."When you live in a local town you know names - it's been interesting to follow," says Emma Buckland, who stops to talk to us in the main street."It's bizarre," says her mother Gabrielle Stefani. "Nothing like that has [ever] happened so it's almost hard to believe."The conversation turns to mushroom foraging."We grew up on the farm. Even on the front lawn there's always mushrooms and you know which ones you can and can't eat," says Ms Buckland. "That's something you've grown up knowing."The town that's felt the impact of the case the most in recent months, though, is Morwell; the administrative capital of the City of Latrobe and where the trial has been heard. "We've seen Morwell, which is usually a pretty sleepy town, come to life," says local journalist Liam Durkin, sitting on a wall in front of Latrobe Valley edits the weekly Latrobe Valley Express newspaper, whose offices are just around the corner."I never thought I'd be listening to fungi experts and the like for weeks on end but here we are," he says."I don't think there's ever been anything like this, and they may well never be in Morwell ever again."While not remote by Australian standards, Morwell is still a two-hour drive from the country's second largest city, Melbourne. It feels far removed from the Victorian capital – and often a few months before that fateful lunch served up by Erin Patterson in July 2023, Morwell's paper mill - Australia's last manufacturer of white paper and the provider of many local jobs - shut down. Before that, many more people lost their jobs when a nearby power station closed people here have struggled to find work; others have left to find more lucrative options in states like locals say being thrust in the spotlight now is a bit bizarre. In Jay Dees coffee shop, opposite the police station and the court, Laura Heller explains that she normally makes about 150 coffees a day. Recently it's almost double that."There's been a lot of mixed feelings about [the trial]," she been a massive uptick for many businesses, but this case has also revived long-held division in the community when it comes to the police and justice systems, she explains."This town is affected by crime a lot, but it's a very different type of crime," Ms Heller says, mentioning drugs and youth offending as examples."Half the community don't really have much faith in the police force and our magistrates."Back in Korumburra, what has been shaken is their faith in humanity. It feels like many people around the globe have lost sight of the fact that this headline-making, meme-generating crime left three people dead."Lives in our local community have changed forever," Mr Hersey says."But I would say for a lot of people, it's just become almost like pop culture."Though the past two years has at times brought out the worst in the community, it's also shone a light on the best, he says."We want to be known as a community that has been strong and has supported one another... rather than a place that is known for what we now know was murder."Additional reporting by Tiffanie Turnbull
