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BREAKING NEWS Horror after cyclist is hit by a bus outside Taronga Zoo

BREAKING NEWS Horror after cyclist is hit by a bus outside Taronga Zoo

Daily Mail​2 days ago
A male cyclist has been struck and trapped beneath a bus near Sydney 's Taronga Zoo.
The man was struck about 10:35am on Sunday on Bradleys Head Road in north Sydney.
Emergency services crews raced to the road on Sunday morning and a specialist medical team was flown to the scene by CareFlight.
Police are on scene and remain investigating the circumstances of the incident.
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We have answers to most questions about Erin Patterson. But THIS explosive camera footage raises an alarming mystery about her pink Samsung
We have answers to most questions about Erin Patterson. But THIS explosive camera footage raises an alarming mystery about her pink Samsung

Daily Mail​

time43 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

We have answers to most questions about Erin Patterson. But THIS explosive camera footage raises an alarming mystery about her pink Samsung

A mountain of evidence saw mushroom killer Erin Patterson convicted of murdering her ex-husband's parents and aunt, but one item was noticeably missing from the prosecution's case. Despite hunting down Patterson's deadly beef Wellington, dehydrator and photos of poisonous death cap mushrooms, officers were unable to find the 50-year-old's main phone. Patterson on Monday was found guilty of killing her parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson. She was also found guilty of attempting to murder Heather's husband, Pastor Ian Wilkinson. She had pleaded not guilty to the deaths and claimed the poisoning was accidental. Patterson had invited the group to her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023, where she served them individually wrapped beef Wellingtons containing lethal mushrooms. The killer initially feigned grief as the fatal lunch made headlines around Australia and Victoria Police charged her over the deaths in November 2023. However, concerns soon grew that one of Patterson's phones was missing, and investigators believed they'd been given a dud device. CCTV vision from July 31, 2023 - released by the Victorian Supreme Court on Monday - showed the murderer in hospital after the incident with a Samsung phone in a pink case. That phone, dubbed Phone A, was never found. Instead, when officers searched Patterson's home on August 5, 2023, she handed them Phone B. Police claimed Patterson had primarily used Phone A from February 2023 until August 2023, which Patterson agreed with. She argued she gave officers Phone B as she was in the process of switching devices because she didn't want her estranged husband, Simon, to reach her. As for why two factory resets had been performed on Phone B before it was surrendered, Patterson told the court, 'I knew that there were photos in there of mushrooms and the dehydrator and I just panicked'. However, the prosecution believed the phone swap was a poorly executed attempt at hiding evidence. It's understood the killer may have gone as far as swapping the devices' SIM cards while detectives were searching her property in August 2023. Despite missing a key piece of evidence, detectives were still able to track down a large amount of other damning proof from her electronics. That evidence included a photo of death cap mushrooms on a scale and her online history of accessing the plant database and networking site, iNaturalist. Internet history showed Patterson had viewed an iNaturalist post flagging death cap mushrooms in two areas of Victoria on at least one occasion. Her mobile phone location later tracked her visiting both locations and buying a food dehydrator on her way home. A photo of death cap mushrooms being weighed on a scale was discovered by investigators on Patterson's tablet device. The prosecution claimed Patterson was weighing the poisonous mushrooms to ensure she could deliver a fatal dose to her ex-husband's family. It's believed Patterson then put the mushrooms in her dehydrator, which was found by police at Koonwarra Transfer Station, so they'd be undetectable in the lunch. A 12-person jury found Patterson guilty of three murders and one attempted murder at Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court on Monday afternoon following a week of deliberation. She now faces a maximum sentence of life behind bars.

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
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

Daily Mail​

timean hour 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.

Australian royal prank DJs claim their bosses MADE them phone the Princess of Wales's hospital and impersonate the late Queen before nurse's suicide
Australian royal prank DJs claim their bosses MADE them phone the Princess of Wales's hospital and impersonate the late Queen before nurse's suicide

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

Australian royal prank DJs claim their bosses MADE them phone the Princess of Wales's hospital and impersonate the late Queen before nurse's suicide

The Australian 'shock jock' behind a prank call to the hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated, which led to the suicide of a nurse, claims he was pressurized into making the call by bosses. Michael Christian and 2Day FM radio co-host Mel Greig made headlines around the world on December 4, 2012 when they duped staff at King Edward VII's Hospital in London, The Telegraph reported. The duo convinved nurse Jacintha Saldanha that they were the late Queen and the then-Prince Charles checking in on the Princess of Wales, who at the time was being treated for severe morning sickness while pregnant with Prince George. Falling for their deception, Ms Saldanha disclosed some of the Princess' private medical information before transferring the call through to the ward. Humiliated by the telephone prank, the nurse - a mother to two children - later took her own life. In one of three apparent suicide notes, Ms Saldanha wrote a short letter in which she expressed her deep anger at the Australian radio presenters and blamed them for her tragic death. The nurse's death led to a huge backlash against the show and brodcaster, with its two presenters forced into hiding after receiving death threats. In a lawsuit against the station's broadcaster, Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), Mr Christian alleges that he was ordered to make the call by the production team only days after starting in the role. He said that the hoax call breached the Australian Communications and Media Authority code of practice and he should never have been asked to do it. Mr Christian also said that he was given insufficient support in the wake of Ms Saldanha's suicide. He claims that the company promised to provide support in the event that any of the antics on the show overstepped the boundaries. Mr Christian, who lost his job in February, accuses the organisation of turning him and Ms Greig into 'convenient fall guys and scapegoats'. Mr Christian's lawyers wrote: 'SCA did not immediately take public accountability for the incident, but rather allowed Mr Christian and Ms Greig to be left exposed to relentless public vitriol, harassment and abuse, including death threats. 'The radio presenters were left by SCA as the convenient fall guys and scapegoats for SCA management decisions and non-compliance.' Mr Christian claims that the incident severely damaged his reputation and earnings potential. He also claims that he was discouraged from pursing legal action against SCA at the time because they promised that they would help him rebuilding his reputation and career. Among Mr Christian's greivences are that SCA filed to provide sufficient mental health support or start a PR campaign to clear his name. He also claims that he was not offered promotions or pay rises to reward his loyalty for sticking with the company, and instead was slowly phased-out. 'When we thought about making a call it was going to go for 30 seconds, we were going to be hung up on, and that was it. As innocent as that,' Mr Christian told Channel Nine's A Current Affair programme less than a week after the prank broke. Describing him and his co-host as 'shattered, gutted, heartbroken', he said 'no-one could've imagined this to happen.' 'The accents were terrible. You know it was designed to be stupid. We were never meant to get that far from the little corgis barking in the background - we obviously wanted it to be a joke,' Ms Greig added. 'There's nothing that can make me feel worse than what I feel right now. And for what I feel for the family. We're so sorry that this has happened to them.' Speaking in 2014, Ms Greig revealed that her mother had received death threats, while the 2DayFM presenter herself battled depression. 'I felt like a failure as a human being,' Ms Greig said in a tearful interview with Channel Seven's Sunday Night. 'I am ashamed of myself. I should have tried harder to not let that prank call air.' At the time of Ms Saldanha's death, the Prince and Princess of Wales said they were 'deeply saddened' by her passing. For confidential support in the UK, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit for details

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