Erin Patterson found guilty by jury of murdering three people with mushroom lunch in Leongatha
Justice Christopher Beale sent the jury to deliberate last Monday, urging them to resist feelings of bias.
After seven days of deliberating, the 12 jurors returned with a unanimous verdict, finding Patterson guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
Patterson's former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, died days after attending a lunch at her Leongatha home, in Victoria's Gippsland region, on 29 July 2023.
Heather's Baptist pastor husband, Ian, 68, spent months in hospital, but survived.
Patterson maintained her innocence throughout the trial, claiming the poisonings were accidental.
She will be sentenced at a later date.
When the jury were sent to deliberate, Justice Beale advised jurors that prosecutors did not have to specify a motive to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.
But Justice Beale also said jurors could consider the lack of motive in Patterson's favour when assessing whether she had an intention to kill.
More than 50 witnesses gave evidence at the Supreme Court hearing in Morwell - including members of the Patterson and Wilkinson families, medical staff, Facebook friends, public health officials, scientists, digital experts, and police - as Patterson's horrific crimes were laid bare.
The court heard tension ignited between Patterson, her estranged husband Simon, and his parents over child support issues in late 2022, with the mother-of-two complaining about them in expletive-filled messages to her Facebook friends.
Although messages between Patterson, Simon, Don and Gail appeared to show the troubles quickly blew over, just months later she began plotting their murders.
In autumn 2023, she foraged for death cap mushrooms - the most toxic fungus in the world - before purchasing a food dehydrator to dry them out so she could later use them to kill.
Telephone data shown to the court suggests Patterson travelled to Loch and Outtrim in April and May, just days after death cap mushrooms sightings were reported on citizen website iNaturalist - a webpage that computer analysis showed she had used from as early as May 2022.
Just hours after her phone pinged in Loch on April 28 2023, Patterson went to a local store and bought a $229 Sunbeam food dehydrator, sending photos of her drying out mushrooms to friends.
A few weeks later, in June 2023, she began planting the seed for her heinous scheme by sending Gail and Don messages claiming she had medical appointments booked for a suspicious lump on her elbow.
With her trap laid, she invited Simon, Gail, Don, Heather, and Ian over to lunch, with her estranged husband recalling to the court how she told him she had medical issues she wanted to discuss in the absence of the kids.
While Simon pulled out the day before, his parents, aunt, and uncle still went to Patterson's Leongatha home, where she served up individual beef wellingtons laced with amatoxins to her guests on matching plates, while she ate from a different coloured dish.
After they finished their meal, Patterson told her in-laws she had ovarian cancer, leading the group- who had unknowingly just been poisoned at her hands - to pray for her and her health.
Over the next few hours and days, her guests' health rapidly deteriorated as they began to experience excruciating symptoms as their organs began to shut down, including vomiting blood, nausea, stomach pain, and diarrhoea.
Meanwhile, Patterson swiftly moved to try and cover her tracks - feigning symptoms, dumping the food dehydrator, lying to police and public health authorities, and tampering with her phone.
In court, Patterson claimed she, too, was a victim and was sick with nausea and diarrhoea after inadvertently picking deadly mushrooms and adding them to the beef wellingtons.
She said she did not begin to suspect her foraged mushrooms had made their way into the meal until after she and everyone became sick.
Patterson claimed she then 'panicked' and began destroying evidence and lying to authorities out of fear she would be blamed for the poisonings and would lose custody of her kids.
But jury panel - of seven men and five women - did not believe her.
In finding Patterson guilty, the jury ruled the prosecution had succeeded in proving the four elements of the charges of murder and attempted murder 'beyond a reasonable doubt'.
For murder, the elements include: the accused caused the death of the deceased by serving them a poisoned meal; that the alleged conduct was conscious, voluntary and deliberate; that at the time she intended to kill or cause really serious injury to them and that she did so without lawful justification or excuse.
The elements of attempted murder include: that the accused consciously, voluntarily and deliberately served Ian Wilkinson a poisoned meal; that her acts were more than merely preparatory; that she intended to kill him; and that her alleged conduct had no lawful justification or excuse.
The verdict brings to an end the almost two-month long trial, which captured international headlines as dozens of journalists descended on the small mining community of Morwell, a town of around 14,300 people a 50 minute drive northeast of Leongatha.
The trial also drew massive crowds as members of the public swarmed to the area from near and far, sometimes waiting outside in the cold for hours, to bag a spot inside the court room.
After giving his testimony, Ian Wilkinson sat in the public gallery every day listening to the proceedings, often accompanied by other members of the Patterson and Wilkinson families.
The woman who murdered his wife and almost took his life sat just metres away, at the back of the room, in the dock.
As Patterson awaits her fate, she will be remanded in at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, a maximum security prison for women in Melbourne's western suburbs.
The facility has housed some of Australia's most infamous female offenders, including teen killer Caroline Reed Robertson, gangland widow Roberta Williams and German drug smuggler Andrea Mohr.
Other high-profile inmates Patterson will be bunking with include pedophile rapist Malka Leifer, black widow Robyn Lindholm, Melbourne crime queen Judy Moran, and serial con artist Samantha Azzopardi.
While Justice Beale will have to weigh several factors when deciding Patterson's sentence, the nature of the crimes could see her jailed for the rest of her life.
In Victoria, the maximum penalty for murder is life imprisonment while attempted murder carries a sentence of up to 25 years behind bars.
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Reaction to the mushroom killer verdict and behind the Erin Patterson story
After almost three months of hearing evidence in a regional courtroom, a jury has found that death cap mushroom killer Erin Patterson poisoned her in-laws. The triple-murder trial entered its eleventh week on July 7 as the jury returned its verdict to the Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court after hearing from more than 50 witnesses. The 50-year-old was found guilty of murdering Don and Gail Patterson, as well as Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, when she fed the group a fatal dose of death cap mushroom in a beef Wellington lunch in 2023. Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband, survived the meal after a successful liver transplant. Wearing a paisley blouse, Erin Patterson blinked but appeared expressionless as a jury foreperson uttered the words "guilty" four times over the murders and attempted murder of her estranged husband Simon's family. Outside court, her friend, Ali Rose Prior, told the waiting large national and international media throng she was "saddened" by the verdicts, but "it is what it is". "I didn't have any expectations, it's the justice system and it has to be what it is," she told reporters outside the Latrobe Valley courts, in Morwell. Ms Prior, who attended the entire trial, confirmed Patterson had told her "see you soon", and that she would visit her friend in prison. In a statement, Victoria Police said they acknowledged the jury's decision. "Our thoughts are with the respective families at this time, and we acknowledge how difficult these past two years have been for them. "We will continue to support them in every way possible following this decision," the statement read. They also acknowledged the work of Homicide Squad detectives during the "complex investigation" and the support of other areas across their organisation. A spokesperson for the Patterson family had no comment as they left the court. Simon Patterson, the killer's estranged husband, declined her invitation for lunch, saying their relationship was too tense for him to comfortably attend. The prosecution argued that Patterson had planned and carried out a plot to kill her husband's family. Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rogers said that Patterson had "secreted" a lethal dose of death cap mushroom poison into the home-cooked beef Wellingtons. She also argued that Patterson told her lunch guests that she had cancer, but that the diagnosis was fabricated. Dr Rogers told the court that Patterson had attempted to "conceal the truth" with a sustained cover-up after the deaths. The jury also heard that Patterson pretended to fall sick after the July 29 lunch. She claimed that foraged death cap mushrooms were in the meal by mistake and maintained her innocence throughout the proceedings. READ MORE: 'No, that's not true': accused mushroom killer denies deliberate poisoning Over the course of the trial, the jury heard of a close family relationship between Patterson and her in-laws before the fateful lunch. Patterson first met her estranged husband's family 20 years ago, in 2005, when the pair started dating after meeting through friends at Melbourne's Monash City Council. The Pattersons had provided emotional and logistical support to the young couple, the court heard. While being questioned by her defence lawyer, Colin Mandy, Patterson remembered her relief when Gail and Don came to stay after the couple had their first baby in Perth. "She taught about settling after a feed and interpreting cries," Patterson said Patterson also credited pastor Ian Wilkinson with her first spiritual experience at the Korumburra Baptist Church, leading her to convert to Christianity. She said that while the family had been close, she had started to feel a growing distance after her split with Simon in 2015. The couple had moved from Perth to Gippsland to be closer to his family after embarking on a number of months-long road trips across the country. But Patterson was becoming "concerned" that her estranged husband didn't want her involved in the family. "I had felt for some months that my relationship with the wider Patterson family, particularly Don and Gail, had a bit more distance or space put between us, we saw each other less," she said. The tension came to a head when Patterson was excluded from Gail's 70th birthday. By late 2022, interactions between Patterson and her estranged husband had "increased the heat", she said. Patterson said anger and resentment in the relationship grew after the pair failed to find a resolution over child support payments, including school and medical fees. Don and Gail were acting as mediators, encouraging the couple to pray together. "They thought that Simon and I should settle the issue together, but they didn't want to become official mediators," she said. Evidence extracted from Patterson's Facebook messages showed her growing frustration, the court heard. "This family, I swear to f--king god," she messaged Facebook friends at the time. The prosecution did not allege a motive for Patterson to murder three people and attempt to murder another. READ MORE: 'This family, swear to f--king god': what we learned from Erin Patterson Before her arrest, Patterson had made plans for the future, including making an appointment to discuss weight loss methods at a Melbourne clinic in 2023. She had also been accepted into a Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery at Federation University to begin in 2024. The convicted killer has been remanded in jail since her arrest in November 2023. She awaits sentencing. - with AAP After almost three months of hearing evidence in a regional courtroom, a jury has found that death cap mushroom killer Erin Patterson poisoned her in-laws. The triple-murder trial entered its eleventh week on July 7 as the jury returned its verdict to the Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court after hearing from more than 50 witnesses. The 50-year-old was found guilty of murdering Don and Gail Patterson, as well as Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, when she fed the group a fatal dose of death cap mushroom in a beef Wellington lunch in 2023. Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband, survived the meal after a successful liver transplant. Wearing a paisley blouse, Erin Patterson blinked but appeared expressionless as a jury foreperson uttered the words "guilty" four times over the murders and attempted murder of her estranged husband Simon's family. Outside court, her friend, Ali Rose Prior, told the waiting large national and international media throng she was "saddened" by the verdicts, but "it is what it is". "I didn't have any expectations, it's the justice system and it has to be what it is," she told reporters outside the Latrobe Valley courts, in Morwell. Ms Prior, who attended the entire trial, confirmed Patterson had told her "see you soon", and that she would visit her friend in prison. In a statement, Victoria Police said they acknowledged the jury's decision. "Our thoughts are with the respective families at this time, and we acknowledge how difficult these past two years have been for them. "We will continue to support them in every way possible following this decision," the statement read. They also acknowledged the work of Homicide Squad detectives during the "complex investigation" and the support of other areas across their organisation. A spokesperson for the Patterson family had no comment as they left the court. Simon Patterson, the killer's estranged husband, declined her invitation for lunch, saying their relationship was too tense for him to comfortably attend. The prosecution argued that Patterson had planned and carried out a plot to kill her husband's family. Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rogers said that Patterson had "secreted" a lethal dose of death cap mushroom poison into the home-cooked beef Wellingtons. She also argued that Patterson told her lunch guests that she had cancer, but that the diagnosis was fabricated. Dr Rogers told the court that Patterson had attempted to "conceal the truth" with a sustained cover-up after the deaths. The jury also heard that Patterson pretended to fall sick after the July 29 lunch. She claimed that foraged death cap mushrooms were in the meal by mistake and maintained her innocence throughout the proceedings. READ MORE: 'No, that's not true': accused mushroom killer denies deliberate poisoning Over the course of the trial, the jury heard of a close family relationship between Patterson and her in-laws before the fateful lunch. Patterson first met her estranged husband's family 20 years ago, in 2005, when the pair started dating after meeting through friends at Melbourne's Monash City Council. The Pattersons had provided emotional and logistical support to the young couple, the court heard. While being questioned by her defence lawyer, Colin Mandy, Patterson remembered her relief when Gail and Don came to stay after the couple had their first baby in Perth. "She taught about settling after a feed and interpreting cries," Patterson said Patterson also credited pastor Ian Wilkinson with her first spiritual experience at the Korumburra Baptist Church, leading her to convert to Christianity. She said that while the family had been close, she had started to feel a growing distance after her split with Simon in 2015. The couple had moved from Perth to Gippsland to be closer to his family after embarking on a number of months-long road trips across the country. But Patterson was becoming "concerned" that her estranged husband didn't want her involved in the family. "I had felt for some months that my relationship with the wider Patterson family, particularly Don and Gail, had a bit more distance or space put between us, we saw each other less," she said. The tension came to a head when Patterson was excluded from Gail's 70th birthday. By late 2022, interactions between Patterson and her estranged husband had "increased the heat", she said. Patterson said anger and resentment in the relationship grew after the pair failed to find a resolution over child support payments, including school and medical fees. Don and Gail were acting as mediators, encouraging the couple to pray together. "They thought that Simon and I should settle the issue together, but they didn't want to become official mediators," she said. Evidence extracted from Patterson's Facebook messages showed her growing frustration, the court heard. "This family, I swear to f--king god," she messaged Facebook friends at the time. The prosecution did not allege a motive for Patterson to murder three people and attempt to murder another. READ MORE: 'This family, swear to f--king god': what we learned from Erin Patterson Before her arrest, Patterson had made plans for the future, including making an appointment to discuss weight loss methods at a Melbourne clinic in 2023. She had also been accepted into a Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery at Federation University to begin in 2024. The convicted killer has been remanded in jail since her arrest in November 2023. She awaits sentencing. - with AAP After almost three months of hearing evidence in a regional courtroom, a jury has found that death cap mushroom killer Erin Patterson poisoned her in-laws. The triple-murder trial entered its eleventh week on July 7 as the jury returned its verdict to the Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court after hearing from more than 50 witnesses. The 50-year-old was found guilty of murdering Don and Gail Patterson, as well as Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, when she fed the group a fatal dose of death cap mushroom in a beef Wellington lunch in 2023. Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband, survived the meal after a successful liver transplant. Wearing a paisley blouse, Erin Patterson blinked but appeared expressionless as a jury foreperson uttered the words "guilty" four times over the murders and attempted murder of her estranged husband Simon's family. Outside court, her friend, Ali Rose Prior, told the waiting large national and international media throng she was "saddened" by the verdicts, but "it is what it is". "I didn't have any expectations, it's the justice system and it has to be what it is," she told reporters outside the Latrobe Valley courts, in Morwell. Ms Prior, who attended the entire trial, confirmed Patterson had told her "see you soon", and that she would visit her friend in prison. In a statement, Victoria Police said they acknowledged the jury's decision. "Our thoughts are with the respective families at this time, and we acknowledge how difficult these past two years have been for them. "We will continue to support them in every way possible following this decision," the statement read. They also acknowledged the work of Homicide Squad detectives during the "complex investigation" and the support of other areas across their organisation. A spokesperson for the Patterson family had no comment as they left the court. Simon Patterson, the killer's estranged husband, declined her invitation for lunch, saying their relationship was too tense for him to comfortably attend. The prosecution argued that Patterson had planned and carried out a plot to kill her husband's family. Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rogers said that Patterson had "secreted" a lethal dose of death cap mushroom poison into the home-cooked beef Wellingtons. She also argued that Patterson told her lunch guests that she had cancer, but that the diagnosis was fabricated. Dr Rogers told the court that Patterson had attempted to "conceal the truth" with a sustained cover-up after the deaths. The jury also heard that Patterson pretended to fall sick after the July 29 lunch. She claimed that foraged death cap mushrooms were in the meal by mistake and maintained her innocence throughout the proceedings. READ MORE: 'No, that's not true': accused mushroom killer denies deliberate poisoning Over the course of the trial, the jury heard of a close family relationship between Patterson and her in-laws before the fateful lunch. Patterson first met her estranged husband's family 20 years ago, in 2005, when the pair started dating after meeting through friends at Melbourne's Monash City Council. The Pattersons had provided emotional and logistical support to the young couple, the court heard. While being questioned by her defence lawyer, Colin Mandy, Patterson remembered her relief when Gail and Don came to stay after the couple had their first baby in Perth. "She taught about settling after a feed and interpreting cries," Patterson said Patterson also credited pastor Ian Wilkinson with her first spiritual experience at the Korumburra Baptist Church, leading her to convert to Christianity. She said that while the family had been close, she had started to feel a growing distance after her split with Simon in 2015. The couple had moved from Perth to Gippsland to be closer to his family after embarking on a number of months-long road trips across the country. But Patterson was becoming "concerned" that her estranged husband didn't want her involved in the family. "I had felt for some months that my relationship with the wider Patterson family, particularly Don and Gail, had a bit more distance or space put between us, we saw each other less," she said. The tension came to a head when Patterson was excluded from Gail's 70th birthday. By late 2022, interactions between Patterson and her estranged husband had "increased the heat", she said. Patterson said anger and resentment in the relationship grew after the pair failed to find a resolution over child support payments, including school and medical fees. Don and Gail were acting as mediators, encouraging the couple to pray together. "They thought that Simon and I should settle the issue together, but they didn't want to become official mediators," she said. Evidence extracted from Patterson's Facebook messages showed her growing frustration, the court heard. "This family, I swear to f--king god," she messaged Facebook friends at the time. The prosecution did not allege a motive for Patterson to murder three people and attempt to murder another. READ MORE: 'This family, swear to f--king god': what we learned from Erin Patterson Before her arrest, Patterson had made plans for the future, including making an appointment to discuss weight loss methods at a Melbourne clinic in 2023. She had also been accepted into a Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery at Federation University to begin in 2024. The convicted killer has been remanded in jail since her arrest in November 2023. She awaits sentencing. - with AAP After almost three months of hearing evidence in a regional courtroom, a jury has found that death cap mushroom killer Erin Patterson poisoned her in-laws. The triple-murder trial entered its eleventh week on July 7 as the jury returned its verdict to the Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court after hearing from more than 50 witnesses. The 50-year-old was found guilty of murdering Don and Gail Patterson, as well as Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, when she fed the group a fatal dose of death cap mushroom in a beef Wellington lunch in 2023. Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband, survived the meal after a successful liver transplant. Wearing a paisley blouse, Erin Patterson blinked but appeared expressionless as a jury foreperson uttered the words "guilty" four times over the murders and attempted murder of her estranged husband Simon's family. Outside court, her friend, Ali Rose Prior, told the waiting large national and international media throng she was "saddened" by the verdicts, but "it is what it is". "I didn't have any expectations, it's the justice system and it has to be what it is," she told reporters outside the Latrobe Valley courts, in Morwell. Ms Prior, who attended the entire trial, confirmed Patterson had told her "see you soon", and that she would visit her friend in prison. In a statement, Victoria Police said they acknowledged the jury's decision. "Our thoughts are with the respective families at this time, and we acknowledge how difficult these past two years have been for them. "We will continue to support them in every way possible following this decision," the statement read. They also acknowledged the work of Homicide Squad detectives during the "complex investigation" and the support of other areas across their organisation. A spokesperson for the Patterson family had no comment as they left the court. Simon Patterson, the killer's estranged husband, declined her invitation for lunch, saying their relationship was too tense for him to comfortably attend. The prosecution argued that Patterson had planned and carried out a plot to kill her husband's family. Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rogers said that Patterson had "secreted" a lethal dose of death cap mushroom poison into the home-cooked beef Wellingtons. She also argued that Patterson told her lunch guests that she had cancer, but that the diagnosis was fabricated. Dr Rogers told the court that Patterson had attempted to "conceal the truth" with a sustained cover-up after the deaths. The jury also heard that Patterson pretended to fall sick after the July 29 lunch. She claimed that foraged death cap mushrooms were in the meal by mistake and maintained her innocence throughout the proceedings. READ MORE: 'No, that's not true': accused mushroom killer denies deliberate poisoning Over the course of the trial, the jury heard of a close family relationship between Patterson and her in-laws before the fateful lunch. Patterson first met her estranged husband's family 20 years ago, in 2005, when the pair started dating after meeting through friends at Melbourne's Monash City Council. The Pattersons had provided emotional and logistical support to the young couple, the court heard. While being questioned by her defence lawyer, Colin Mandy, Patterson remembered her relief when Gail and Don came to stay after the couple had their first baby in Perth. "She taught about settling after a feed and interpreting cries," Patterson said Patterson also credited pastor Ian Wilkinson with her first spiritual experience at the Korumburra Baptist Church, leading her to convert to Christianity. She said that while the family had been close, she had started to feel a growing distance after her split with Simon in 2015. The couple had moved from Perth to Gippsland to be closer to his family after embarking on a number of months-long road trips across the country. But Patterson was becoming "concerned" that her estranged husband didn't want her involved in the family. "I had felt for some months that my relationship with the wider Patterson family, particularly Don and Gail, had a bit more distance or space put between us, we saw each other less," she said. The tension came to a head when Patterson was excluded from Gail's 70th birthday. By late 2022, interactions between Patterson and her estranged husband had "increased the heat", she said. Patterson said anger and resentment in the relationship grew after the pair failed to find a resolution over child support payments, including school and medical fees. Don and Gail were acting as mediators, encouraging the couple to pray together. "They thought that Simon and I should settle the issue together, but they didn't want to become official mediators," she said. Evidence extracted from Patterson's Facebook messages showed her growing frustration, the court heard. "This family, I swear to f--king god," she messaged Facebook friends at the time. The prosecution did not allege a motive for Patterson to murder three people and attempt to murder another. READ MORE: 'This family, swear to f--king god': what we learned from Erin Patterson Before her arrest, Patterson had made plans for the future, including making an appointment to discuss weight loss methods at a Melbourne clinic in 2023. She had also been accepted into a Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery at Federation University to begin in 2024. The convicted killer has been remanded in jail since her arrest in November 2023. She awaits sentencing. - with AAP
Perth Now
4 hours ago
- Perth Now
Mushroom cook a multi-millionaire
Over the course of a weeks-long murder trial, Erin Patterson was described as many things; a multi-millionaire and generous in-law, a devoted mother-of-two and a cold-blooded killer. The unassuming Victorian woman drew the world's attention after three of her husband's family died from a poisoned meal and a fourth fought his way back from death's door. Details about Patterson's life were revealed by those who knew her best as the Supreme Court trial played out in the regional town of Morwell over the last four months. She had pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, with her defence arguing the poisoning was a tragic accident. Erin Patterson maintained she did not intentionally harm anyone. Brooke Grebert-Craig. Credit: Supplied At trial, prosecutors argued Patterson intentionally sourced death cap mushrooms, the most poisonous known fungi, and included them in the beef wellington lunch intending to kill or at least seriously injure her four guests. Don and Gail Patterson, her husband Simon Patterson's parents, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson died in the week after the lunch on July 29, 2023. Gail's husband Ian Wilkinson recovered after a lengthy stay in hospital. On X, jurors returned to the Latrobe Valley law court and returned unanimous guilty verdicts on all four charges following X days of deliberations. Erin Patterson's parents in law Don and Gail Patterson. Supplied. Credit: Supplied During the trial, jurors heard Patterson first met her husband in the early 2000s when they were both working at the Monash city council. She was an administrative assistant engaged by animal welfare charity the RSPCA while Simon was a civil engineer at the council. Giving evidence, Simon said they got to know each other as part of a 'fairly eclectic' group of friends from the council before developing a romantic relationship. 'Erin is very intelligent. I guess some of the things that attracted me to her in the first place was definitely her intelligence. She is quite witty and can be quite funny,' he said. She remains married to Simon Patterson. NewsWire / David Geraghty Credit: News Corp Australia The jury heard Patterson had worked as an accountant and as an air traffic controller at Melbourne's Tullamarine airport prior to meeting Simon. Patterson told the court she met Simon in 2004 and they began dating in July the following year. She said she first met his parents, Don and Gail Patterson, in about March or April 2005 while on a camping trip with Simon and a few friends and they stopped in at his parents. Patterson described herself as a 'fundamentalist atheist' and initially sought to convert Simon, a devout Christian, but ' things happened in reverse and I became a Christian'. She pointed to a 'spiritual experience' while on that camping trip when they attended a service at Korumburra Baptist Church where Simon's uncle, Ian Wilkinson, was 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.' Ian Wilkinson survived the lunch. NewsWire / Diego Fedele Credit: News Corp Australia The Korumburra Baptist Church where Mr Wilkinson has been pastor for two decades. NewsWire / Josie Hayden Credit: News Corp Australia Simon told the court a month after their wedding on June 2, 2007, the pair set off on a cross-country trip. 'We planned, before we married, to pack up everything, get a four-wheel drive and drive across Australia and camp in tents, which we did,' he said. Their wedding was held under a marquee at Don and Gail's Korumburra home, with Simon's cousin, David Wilkinson, walking her down the aisle. Patterson told the jury her parents did not attend as they were on a holiday crossing Russia by train. By late 2007, Simon said, they settled down in Perth where he found work at a local council. The jury heard their first child, a son, was born in January 2009, with Patterson describing the birth as 'very traumatic'. On the stand, she said she developed a mistrust of doctors and questioned if they knew what they were doing. The couple also took a number of international holidays, including to New Zealand and Africa. Supplied. Credit: Supplied Patterson said Don and Gail came to stay with them after the birth, saying Gail was 'really supportive, and gentle and patient with me'. 'I remember being really relieved that Gail was there because I felt really out of my depth,' she said. A few months later the family packed up again heading north and covering the top end of Australia. After months of travel, Patterson said she'd had a 'gutful' and elected to fly back to Perth from Townsville leaving Simon and their son to drive back. 'It had been a good holiday but I'd had enough. I wanted to sleep in a real bed,' she said. The jury heard this led to the couple's first separation, in late 2009, for 'about six months' with Patterson and their son living in a rental while Simon lived nearby in a caravan. 'What I understood from Erin was that she was struggling inside herself,' Simon said. The couple underwent marriage counselling and the family reunited after Simon moved to the wheatbelt town of York for work as a council civil engineer. For a time, the couple also lived in Quinninup, in Western Australia's southwest, and Patterson started a second hand book shop in Pemberton which she operated in 2011 and 2012. Giving evidence, Simon said there were a few other periods of short separation while the pair lived in Western Australia before they returned to Victoria in 2013. Patterson's second child, a girl, was born in 2014, and the couple purchased a home in Korumburra to be close to Simon's family the same year. Simon's sister, Anna Terrington, said she developed a strong bond with Patterson because they were both pregnant at the same time. She gave evidence their children, born three days apart, were known in the family as 'the twins'. Anna and Josh Terrington, with sibling Matthew Patterson (right). NewsWire/Ian Currie Credit: News Corp Australia Many of Simon's family members called in the trial described Patterson as a devoted mother to her two children. The couple separated for a final time in late 2015, the jury heard. Asked about the separation, Patterson said she believed the key issue in their relationship was communication but that Simon and her remained close and co-operative in the following years. 'Primarily what we struggled with over the entire course of our relationship … we just couldn't communicate well when we disagreed about something,' she 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.' Patterson told the court after their separation, she remained close to Simon's parents and continued to attend family events. 'It never changed. I was just their daughter-in-law and they just continued to love me,' she said. A court sketch of Erin Patterson during the trial. NewsWire / Paul Tyquin Credit: News Corp Australia The jury heard Patterson received a large inheritance after her grandmother's death in 2006, with disbursements paid out twice annually until 2015. Simon agreed Patterson was 'very generous' with the money, with the couple lending hundreds of thousands of dollars to each of his three siblings and their partners interest free. 'We wouldn't have been able to do it without those inheritances,' he said. 'Money has not been the most important motivation to either Erin or me in our decisions.' He said he believed it totalled roughly $2 million. Patterson also received another large inheritance in 2019 after her mother's death split her estate between her two daughters. The jury heard Patterson used part of this money to buy a block of land at Gibson St, Leongatha, where she built her family home and the location of the deadly lunch. Living on the 3 acre block in the small dairy town, Patterson said she kept animals including sheep and goats. Erin Patterson's home in Leongatha. NewsWire / Diego Fedele. Credit: News Corp Australia Despite their separation four years earlier, Patterson titled both the Gibson St property and a home in the Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley as shared ownership with her husband. Simon told the court he viewed this at the time as a sign Patterson remained committed to the family unit and was hopeful they would reconcile. He said he believed Patterson had struggled with her self-image for many years although she never explicitly said this to him. On the stand, Patterson said she had body-image issues since childhood and struggled with her weight. 'I tried every diet under the sun,' she said. 'When I was a kid, mum would weigh us every week to make sure we weren't putting on too much weight.' Patterson told the court she had engaged in binge eating and purging since her 20s but no one knew. The jury heard from three witnesses who came to know Patterson in 2020 through an online true crime Facebook group that splintered off into a social chat during the Covid pandemic and continued into 2023. Non-profit manager Christine Hunt said Patterson had made a name for herself in the group as a 'super-sleuth', able to dig up details about true crime cases they discussed. Stay at home mum Daniela Barkley said she believed Patterson to be a wonderful mother, but recalled she vented about problems with Simon and his family. Daniela Barkley said she formed the view Simon was not a nice man from Patterson's posts. NewsWire / Diego Fedele Credit: News Corp Australia A series of messages Patterson sent to the group between December 6 and 9 in 2022, captured her complaining about her husband and his family. 'I'm sick of this s--t 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--k em,' one message read. Patterson told the jury she regrets the messages, but her defence noted they needed to be viewed in the proper context of a woman venting to her support network. Giving evidence, Simon told the jury they remained friendly and committed to co-parenting their two children but he first noticed a change in their relationship in late 2022. He said he believed this was after Patterson noticed he'd been listed as separated for the first time in his tax return and he understood the change to have financial implications. Simon Patterson was the first witness called in the trial. NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui Credit: News Corp Australia Patterson disagreed, saying while there was a change in the relationship, it occurred weeks later after Simon began to refuse to contribute to their children's schooling and medical costs. 'I wasn't upset, because him listing himself as single on his tax return meant I now have the opportunity to claim family tax benefit that I had been denied before,' she said. Simon said after the tax return, Patterson had filed a child support claim and he'd been instructed by authorities not to pay for things until a financial agreement was reached. Both agreed tensions had cooled down by the end of 2022 but their relationship became 'functional' after this point. She will return to court at a later date.
Sydney Morning Herald
4 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
One word on a tax return set off a lethal chain of events
It was late October or November in 2022, he recalled, when his estranged wife pulled him aside for a chat. She sat in the car with Simon and said she had discovered that his tax return for the previous financial year noted they were separated. Loading 'Before that we hadn't gotten the government involved in the fact we were separated at all before,' Simon said. 'She said that it mattered, I think, for the family tax benefit, something of that nature. And so, she would be obliged to claim child support off of me, which had never happened before.' Simon told the court his tax status was changed as a result of a miscommunication between him and his accountant. He said Erin rejected his efforts to revert it. From then on, Simon said, communication became more functional and less 'chatty'. 'That was probably the first thing that made me feel that there was a substantial change in our relationship, that before that, our habit for years was to message each other a lot, in a chatty way, and the chatty nature of it pretty much stopped,' he said. He said that a few weeks later, Erin applied for child support. She was also keen for him to sign a form stipulating that they would each pay half of the children's school fees. However, Simon told Erin he had been advised by government staff not to do so, as the school fees would be covered in the child support payments. 'I'm sure she was very upset about that,' Simon told the jury. About seven months later, Simon Patterson's parents and aunt and uncle lay critically unwell in the Austin Hospital from death cap mushroom poisoning. The prosecution case was the killer had lured the family to lunch at her home under the guise of telling them she had cancer. Medical records would later show this was never the case. It wouldn't be until November 2023, four months after the lunch, that police would make an arrest. Erin Patterson was charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder. Other charges – three counts of attempted murder relating to estranged husband Simon Patterson – were dropped on the eve of the high-profile murder trial. During the trial the jury heard from more than 50 witnesses. They included the surviving lunch guest Ian Wilkinson, Simon Patterson, other Wilkinson and Patterson family members, medical witnesses and online friends of Erin Patterson. The jury also heard from mushroom and toxin experts, the manager of a local tip where Erin's dehydrator – laden with death cap toxins – was found dumped, alongside a phone tower expert, health officers and homicide squad detectives. Loading During the trial, the jury heard Erin Patterson had lied about having cancer to lure family members to her home for lunch on July 29, 2023, and about getting rid of the black Sunbeam food dehydrator in the e-waste section of the local tip in the aftermath of the fatal meal. When the lunch guests arrived, the jury heard, Erin served beef Wellington on different coloured plates to her own to deliberately poison them. 'I noticed Erin had put her food on a different plate to us. Her plate had colour on it, I wondered why that was,' Heather Wilkinson told family before she died. Hours after the lunch, all four guests fell ill. Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson died at the Austin Hospital on August 4 and 5, while Ian Wilkinson survived after a lengthy stay in hospital. Erin Patterson had gone to Leongatha hospital complaining of not feeling well, but left after telling staff she was not prepared to stay, sparking a triple-0 call to police to try to find the now 50-year-old. She later returned to hospital and was found to be suffering from gastro-like symptoms but no significant illnesses. The jury also heard that in the months leading up to the lunch, Erin posted messages in a Facebook chat group about dehydrating mushrooms, including sharing in the chat that she had bought a food dehydrator. She posted photos of the new appliance on her kitchen bench. By this point Erin Patterson's ill will towards her estranged husband was extending to her in-laws. She also told her online friends, using an account name of Erin Erin Erin, that Simon Patterson was a 'deadbeat' father, and Don and Gail Patterson were 'a lost cause' the year before the lunch. She complained that Simon Patterson had refused to talk about his side of a shared issue, after which his father, Don, had said he was unable to adjudicate between the pair, instead urging them to get together and pray. 'This family I swear to f---ing god,' the 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.' As the conversation continued, the court heard, more posts were made including some discussing difficulties in obtaining child support, and suggestions from Simon's family that she withdraw her claim. In one message, Erin wondered if Simon Patterson had any capacity for self-reflection, and said his refusal to talk about personal issues appeared to be a 'learned behaviour' from his parents to not 'talk about this shit'. Loading She complained he 'needs to be accountable' for his decision-making that was hurting their children. 'I'm sick of this shit I want nothing to do with them,' the post read. 'F--- them.' 'I don't need anything from these people.' 'Simon wants to walk away from his responsibilities. If he wants them to go to a private Christian school, he can help pay for it. 'His mum was horrified that I had claimed child support. Why isn't she horrified that her son is such a deadbeat that I had no choice but to claim?' Phone tower data aired in court suggested Erin Patterson was in the Loch and Outtrim areas, in South Gippsland, soon after posts were made on a citizen scientist website about sightings of death cap mushrooms growing in the wild. After three of the lunch guests died, police searched her home, discovering one of her phones was factory reset a number of times over a 48-hour period, including remotely the day after the police raid. One of her phones was never found. Erin's defence team, led by Colin Mandy, SC, maintained the poisoning was nothing more than 'a tragedy and a terrible accident'. On day one of the trial, he said his client admitted, for the first time, that she did forage mushrooms but denied ever deliberately seeking out the death cap variety. Loading Mandy said the defence case was that Erin Patterson panicked because she was overwhelmed that four people had become ill because of the food that she'd served to them. He also maintained his client never feigned any illness and instead panicked. On Monday the jurors emphatically rejected that version of events with their guilty verdicts.
