A trip to the tip, hospital visit and beef wellington leftovers: Photo exhibits from murderer Erin Patterson's trial released
Patterson on Monday was found guilty of murdering her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson by serving a toxic beef wellington lunch in July 2023.
Patterson was also convicted of the attempted murder of Heather's husband and local church pastor Ian Wilkinson, who survived the meal after a lengthy stint in hospital.
A tranche of exhibits, released by the Victorian Supreme Court following the verdict, have given a glimpse into Patterson's home during a police search in the aftermath of the toxic meal.
Further footage shows Patterson's hospital visit in the days after the lunch, as well as her trip to the tip to dump a food dehydrator. Inside Patterson's home after toxic lunch
An annotated photograph shows where each lunch guest sat at the table during Patterson's beef wellington lunch.
The image depicts Ian at the head of the table with his wife Heather to his left and Gail to his right, while Don sat opposite Erin.
On August 5, 2023, Patterson's home was searched by police and a number of items were seized, including a computer.
Detective Leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall told the trial he was the main officer tasked with staying by Patterson's side during the search.
Patterson was allowed to move around her home but an officer was with her at all times, he said.
Mr Wilkinson gave evidence during the trial that the beef wellingtons were dished out as individual serves on different coloured plates.
The church pastor said there were five plates in total, four grey ones and another which was an orangey-tan colour.
Patterson served herself a portion of food on the odd plate and then carried it to the table, he said.
The defence argued Patterson did not own a full set of matching plates in her home. The beef wellington leftovers
The court heard the beef wellington recipe was sourced from a RecipeTin Eats cookbook.
During her testimony, Patterson claimed she bought the fresh mushrooms used in the meal from Woolworths, as well as dried ones from an Asian grocer in Melbourne's south-east.
She had stored the dried mushrooms in a Tupperware container.
Patterson told the court she had dehydrated and foraged for mushrooms in the past, and feared some may have mistakenly been mixed into her beef wellington meal.
She denied the poisonings were deliberate.
Leftovers of the meal were later retrieved from a red bin at her property by police and provided to pathology and toxicology for testing.
The testing came after Patterson's four lunch guests were admitted to hospital due to being critically unwell in the days after the lunch. CCTV released of Patterson's trip to the tip
During the trial, the court was played CCTV footage of Patterson dumping a food dehydrator at the Koonwarra Transfer Station and Landfill on August 2, four days after the lunch.
Stills of the footage, which have now been released, show Patterson carrying a large item from her red SUV as she walks towards a large green shed.
The trial heard the operations manager of the group which runs Koonwarra Transfer Station was contacted by police on August 4 in relation to the CCTV footage.
The manager asked one of his employees to look for the item depicted in the footage, which was dumped in an e-waste bin.
The worker then found what he described as a microwave-type dehydrator.
Police went to the tip to pick up the appliance the following day. The hospital saga
Patterson presented to Leongatha Hospital about 8am on July 31, but discharged herself against medical advice only about five minutes after she arrived.
Dr Chris Webster told the jury he tried to call Patterson three times after she left the hospital amid fears for her health.
He left her three voice messages, and later called police as he was concerned for the mother-of-two's welfare.
At this stage, Don and Gail had been transferred to Dandenong hospital, while Ian and Heather were at Leongatha.
Patterson returned to the hospital a few hours later and was transferred to Monash Medical Centre with her children after doctors were told the kids had eaten leftovers of the meal.
The jury delivered their guilty verdict on Monday after seven days of deliberations, bringing to a close what has been 10 weeks of proceedings in the regional Victorian town of Morwell.
The prosecution argued Patterson's lunch was intentionally laced with death cap mushrooms, but the mother-of-two denied the poisonings were intentional.
Prosecutors further argued that Patterson faked a cancer diagnosis to lure her guests over for lunch as she needed advice on how to break the medical news to her children.
Her estranged husband Simon Patterson was invited to the lunch, but pulled out of the gathering the day before by text message.
It is not yet known when the mother-of-two will be sentenced.
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The Advertiser
an hour ago
- The Advertiser
Mushroom trial circus packs up after guilty verdicts
Korumburra, Leongatha and Morwell. These humble towns in Victoria's Gippsland region have been caught up in Erin Patterson's decision to serve up a deadly mushroom meal almost two years ago. Over more than 10 weeks, Morwell has been in the spotlight after hosting a trial that has captivated much of the nation and the world. It brought swarms of true-crime fanatics and media to hear blow-by-blow details about the death cap mushroom-laced lunch at Patterson's Leongatha home in July 2023. A jury on Monday unanimously found Patterson guilty of intentionally poisoning her estranged husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his uncle and aunt Ian and Heather Wilkinson, who all lived in Korumburra. Mr Wilkinson, the pastor at Korumburra Baptist Church, was the lone diner to survive after a lengthy hospital stay. Toni Watson from Morwell Newsagency said she felt relief watching news of the verdicts. "There was too many gaps (in Patterson's story)," she told AAP. Towns like Snowtown in South Australia have become indelibly linked to murder cases. Ms Watson, who has spent most of her life in Morwell, said she hoped the triple murder didn't taint the region's reputation. The area has already suffered a degree of stigma from the murder of 14-month-old Jaidyn Leskie, whose body was found at Blue Rock Dam on New Year's Day 1998. "The Jaidyn Leskie case happened in Moe, but it affects the whole La Trobe Valley," she said. Along with a band of reporters, Laura Heller from Jay Dee's Cafe in Morwell made a mad dash for the courthouse after hearing the jury had reached a verdict following seven days of deliberations. The historic nature of the moment wasn't lost on the 31-year-old. "It will be talked about forever and it will always be remembered as one of the craziest stories in Australian history," she told AAP. Ms Heller, a law student who worked at the cafe throughout the trial, said business had been booming in the traditionally quiet winter period. The out-of-towners were a mixture of media, true crime nuts and "oldies" wanting to have a stickybeak. "Not much goes on here, so we were all excited a lot of people from Australia and around the world were coming," Ms Heller said. "I know that sounds crazy." She spoke with a sense of melancholy about life returning to normal in the area, which has faced social and economic problems with the impending closure of job-creating coal-fired power stations. "It's like summer camp coming to an end," she said. South Gippsland Shire councillor Nathan Hersey said the scale of the media attention astounded locals. "In all of this, there has been a lot of publicity. A lot of it's been negative, unfortunately, and it's gained traction in a pop-culture kind of way," he said. "But I don't feel like that has reflected on the region. Anyone who knows Gippsland knows that it's a great place with a lot of fantastic people." Korumburra, Leongatha and Morwell. These humble towns in Victoria's Gippsland region have been caught up in Erin Patterson's decision to serve up a deadly mushroom meal almost two years ago. Over more than 10 weeks, Morwell has been in the spotlight after hosting a trial that has captivated much of the nation and the world. It brought swarms of true-crime fanatics and media to hear blow-by-blow details about the death cap mushroom-laced lunch at Patterson's Leongatha home in July 2023. A jury on Monday unanimously found Patterson guilty of intentionally poisoning her estranged husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his uncle and aunt Ian and Heather Wilkinson, who all lived in Korumburra. Mr Wilkinson, the pastor at Korumburra Baptist Church, was the lone diner to survive after a lengthy hospital stay. Toni Watson from Morwell Newsagency said she felt relief watching news of the verdicts. "There was too many gaps (in Patterson's story)," she told AAP. Towns like Snowtown in South Australia have become indelibly linked to murder cases. Ms Watson, who has spent most of her life in Morwell, said she hoped the triple murder didn't taint the region's reputation. The area has already suffered a degree of stigma from the murder of 14-month-old Jaidyn Leskie, whose body was found at Blue Rock Dam on New Year's Day 1998. "The Jaidyn Leskie case happened in Moe, but it affects the whole La Trobe Valley," she said. Along with a band of reporters, Laura Heller from Jay Dee's Cafe in Morwell made a mad dash for the courthouse after hearing the jury had reached a verdict following seven days of deliberations. The historic nature of the moment wasn't lost on the 31-year-old. "It will be talked about forever and it will always be remembered as one of the craziest stories in Australian history," she told AAP. Ms Heller, a law student who worked at the cafe throughout the trial, said business had been booming in the traditionally quiet winter period. The out-of-towners were a mixture of media, true crime nuts and "oldies" wanting to have a stickybeak. "Not much goes on here, so we were all excited a lot of people from Australia and around the world were coming," Ms Heller said. "I know that sounds crazy." She spoke with a sense of melancholy about life returning to normal in the area, which has faced social and economic problems with the impending closure of job-creating coal-fired power stations. "It's like summer camp coming to an end," she said. South Gippsland Shire councillor Nathan Hersey said the scale of the media attention astounded locals. "In all of this, there has been a lot of publicity. A lot of it's been negative, unfortunately, and it's gained traction in a pop-culture kind of way," he said. "But I don't feel like that has reflected on the region. Anyone who knows Gippsland knows that it's a great place with a lot of fantastic people." Korumburra, Leongatha and Morwell. These humble towns in Victoria's Gippsland region have been caught up in Erin Patterson's decision to serve up a deadly mushroom meal almost two years ago. Over more than 10 weeks, Morwell has been in the spotlight after hosting a trial that has captivated much of the nation and the world. It brought swarms of true-crime fanatics and media to hear blow-by-blow details about the death cap mushroom-laced lunch at Patterson's Leongatha home in July 2023. A jury on Monday unanimously found Patterson guilty of intentionally poisoning her estranged husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his uncle and aunt Ian and Heather Wilkinson, who all lived in Korumburra. Mr Wilkinson, the pastor at Korumburra Baptist Church, was the lone diner to survive after a lengthy hospital stay. Toni Watson from Morwell Newsagency said she felt relief watching news of the verdicts. "There was too many gaps (in Patterson's story)," she told AAP. Towns like Snowtown in South Australia have become indelibly linked to murder cases. Ms Watson, who has spent most of her life in Morwell, said she hoped the triple murder didn't taint the region's reputation. The area has already suffered a degree of stigma from the murder of 14-month-old Jaidyn Leskie, whose body was found at Blue Rock Dam on New Year's Day 1998. "The Jaidyn Leskie case happened in Moe, but it affects the whole La Trobe Valley," she said. Along with a band of reporters, Laura Heller from Jay Dee's Cafe in Morwell made a mad dash for the courthouse after hearing the jury had reached a verdict following seven days of deliberations. The historic nature of the moment wasn't lost on the 31-year-old. "It will be talked about forever and it will always be remembered as one of the craziest stories in Australian history," she told AAP. Ms Heller, a law student who worked at the cafe throughout the trial, said business had been booming in the traditionally quiet winter period. The out-of-towners were a mixture of media, true crime nuts and "oldies" wanting to have a stickybeak. "Not much goes on here, so we were all excited a lot of people from Australia and around the world were coming," Ms Heller said. "I know that sounds crazy." She spoke with a sense of melancholy about life returning to normal in the area, which has faced social and economic problems with the impending closure of job-creating coal-fired power stations. "It's like summer camp coming to an end," she said. South Gippsland Shire councillor Nathan Hersey said the scale of the media attention astounded locals. "In all of this, there has been a lot of publicity. A lot of it's been negative, unfortunately, and it's gained traction in a pop-culture kind of way," he said. "But I don't feel like that has reflected on the region. Anyone who knows Gippsland knows that it's a great place with a lot of fantastic people." Korumburra, Leongatha and Morwell. These humble towns in Victoria's Gippsland region have been caught up in Erin Patterson's decision to serve up a deadly mushroom meal almost two years ago. Over more than 10 weeks, Morwell has been in the spotlight after hosting a trial that has captivated much of the nation and the world. It brought swarms of true-crime fanatics and media to hear blow-by-blow details about the death cap mushroom-laced lunch at Patterson's Leongatha home in July 2023. A jury on Monday unanimously found Patterson guilty of intentionally poisoning her estranged husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his uncle and aunt Ian and Heather Wilkinson, who all lived in Korumburra. Mr Wilkinson, the pastor at Korumburra Baptist Church, was the lone diner to survive after a lengthy hospital stay. Toni Watson from Morwell Newsagency said she felt relief watching news of the verdicts. "There was too many gaps (in Patterson's story)," she told AAP. Towns like Snowtown in South Australia have become indelibly linked to murder cases. Ms Watson, who has spent most of her life in Morwell, said she hoped the triple murder didn't taint the region's reputation. The area has already suffered a degree of stigma from the murder of 14-month-old Jaidyn Leskie, whose body was found at Blue Rock Dam on New Year's Day 1998. "The Jaidyn Leskie case happened in Moe, but it affects the whole La Trobe Valley," she said. Along with a band of reporters, Laura Heller from Jay Dee's Cafe in Morwell made a mad dash for the courthouse after hearing the jury had reached a verdict following seven days of deliberations. The historic nature of the moment wasn't lost on the 31-year-old. "It will be talked about forever and it will always be remembered as one of the craziest stories in Australian history," she told AAP. Ms Heller, a law student who worked at the cafe throughout the trial, said business had been booming in the traditionally quiet winter period. The out-of-towners were a mixture of media, true crime nuts and "oldies" wanting to have a stickybeak. "Not much goes on here, so we were all excited a lot of people from Australia and around the world were coming," Ms Heller said. "I know that sounds crazy." She spoke with a sense of melancholy about life returning to normal in the area, which has faced social and economic problems with the impending closure of job-creating coal-fired power stations. "It's like summer camp coming to an end," she said. South Gippsland Shire councillor Nathan Hersey said the scale of the media attention astounded locals. "In all of this, there has been a lot of publicity. A lot of it's been negative, unfortunately, and it's gained traction in a pop-culture kind of way," he said. "But I don't feel like that has reflected on the region. Anyone who knows Gippsland knows that it's a great place with a lot of fantastic people."
7NEWS
an hour ago
- 7NEWS
Erin Patterson: Dr Chris Webster reveals moment he knew mushroom cook was a ‘disturbed, sociopathic' murderer
The doctor who notified police about Erin Patterson has spoken for the first time since the guilty verdict, revealing the moment he realised the mushroom murderer was a 'disturbed sociopathic nut bag'. Dr Chris Webster dialled triple zero in the morning of July 31, 2023, after Patterson discharged herself from Leongatha Hospital within five minutes of being there. Patterson's ex-husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, were in a critical condition at Dandenong Hospital, while Ian and Heather Wilkinson were receiving treatment at Leongatha Hospital after eating a serving of beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms. Now, the transcript of his call with an emergency operator has been released. 'This is Dr Chris Webster calling from Leongatha Hospital. I have a concern regarding a patient that presented here earlier, that has left the building and is potentially exposed to a fatal toxin from mushroom poisoning, and I've tried several times to get hold of her on her mobile phone,' Dr Webster told the operator. 'The last name is Patterson. Erin.' In a short conversation that followed, Dr Webster explained to the operator that 'five people 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,' he continued. The operator asked what happened when Patterson presented and then quickly discharged herself. 'It was time for the nurse to begin observations and I was managing the other critically unwell patients,' he said. 'I had a brief chat to her about where the mushrooms were obtained, and while I was attending (to) the other patients, nurses informed me that she had discharged herself against medical advice.' The phone call marks the first time police would hear about the deadly lunch that would eventually claim the lives of Don and Gail, as well as Gail's sister Heather. Heather Wilkinson's last words to doctor Dr Webster vividly recalled the moments of that morning, telling The Age that he was managing the symptoms of the Wilkinsons, who were suffering from what first appeared to be regular food poisoning, until a frantic call came in from Dandenong Hospital. The caller was ringing to tell Dr Webster that they suspected Don and Gail, who arrived at Dandenong Hospital the previous night, were suffering from toxic mushroom poisoning. Dr Webster said his thoughts went from 'oh f***' to 'we have to get this medicine into these patients' bloodstream as quickly as possible.' 'There was just a sense of absolute kind of disbelief that this is happening, and probably an element of disappointment with myself because... it wasn't an idea that formed in my mind to ask about the mushrooms. 'The idea that it could be something so enormous – a premeditated poisoning of a Michelin-star meal with mushrooms – was so far from what my brain was prepared to accept,' he told the publication. Dr Webster revealed that the last words Ms Wilkinson said to him before the ambulance left were, 'Thank you for looking after me.' 'I knew she was going off to her death,' he admitted. 'Heather was one of the gentlest souls, (the) kindest person. Her liver is falling apart inside her body, and the thing that she makes sure she does before she leaves the hospital in an ambulance: thank the doctor.' Dr Webster has also revealed that he suspected Patterson was a murderer when she told him she purchased the mushrooms used in the deadly meal from Woolworths. 'If she said she picked them, it would have been a very different mindset for me because there would have been an instant assumption it was all a tragic accident,' he told the Herald Sun. 'But once she said that answer, my thoughts were, 'holy f**king shit, you f**king did it, you crazy bitch, you poisoned them all'. 'The turning point for me was that moment.' Dr Webster said Patterson was a 'disturbed sociopathic nut bag'. 'She wasn't freaking out about the safety of her children,' he said. 'Looking into her eyes, I thought 'I don't know what planet you're on but you're not on earth. 'If it was an Agatha Christie novel, this is how one of her characters would have done it.' The motive behind the murders is still unknown.
Perth Now
2 hours ago
- Perth Now
Mushroom trial circus packs up after guilty verdicts
Korumburra, Leongatha and Morwell. These humble towns in Victoria's Gippsland region have been caught up in Erin Patterson's decision to serve up a deadly mushroom meal almost two years ago. Over more than 10 weeks, Morwell has been in the spotlight after hosting a trial that has captivated much of the nation and the world. It brought swarms of true-crime fanatics and media to hear blow-by-blow details about the death cap mushroom-laced lunch at Patterson's Leongatha home in July 2023. A jury on Monday unanimously found Patterson guilty of intentionally poisoning her estranged husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his uncle and aunt Ian and Heather Wilkinson, who all lived in Korumburra. Mr Wilkinson, the pastor at Korumburra Baptist Church, was the lone diner to survive after a lengthy hospital stay. Toni Watson from Morwell Newsagency said she felt relief watching news of the verdicts. "There was too many gaps (in Patterson's story)," she told AAP. Towns like Snowtown in South Australia have become indelibly linked to murder cases. Ms Watson, who has spent most of her life in Morwell, said she hoped the triple murder didn't taint the region's reputation. The area has already suffered a degree of stigma from the murder of 14-month-old Jaidyn Leskie, whose body was found at Blue Rock Dam on New Year's Day 1998. "The Jaidyn Leskie case happened in Moe, but it affects the whole La Trobe Valley," she said. Along with a band of reporters, Laura Heller from Jay Dee's Cafe in Morwell made a mad dash for the courthouse after hearing the jury had reached a verdict following seven days of deliberations. The historic nature of the moment wasn't lost on the 31-year-old. "It will be talked about forever and it will always be remembered as one of the craziest stories in Australian history," she told AAP. Ms Heller, a law student who worked at the cafe throughout the trial, said business had been booming in the traditionally quiet winter period. The out-of-towners were a mixture of media, true crime nuts and "oldies" wanting to have a stickybeak. "Not much goes on here, so we were all excited a lot of people from Australia and around the world were coming," Ms Heller said. "I know that sounds crazy." She spoke with a sense of melancholy about life returning to normal in the area, which has faced social and economic problems with the impending closure of job-creating coal-fired power stations. "It's like summer camp coming to an end," she said. South Gippsland Shire councillor Nathan Hersey said the scale of the media attention astounded locals. "In all of this, there has been a lot of publicity. A lot of it's been negative, unfortunately, and it's gained traction in a pop-culture kind of way," he said. "But I don't feel like that has reflected on the region. Anyone who knows Gippsland knows that it's a great place with a lot of fantastic people."
