Latest news with #AlisonRosePrior
Daily Mail
12-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Who is mushroom killer Erin Patterson's dearest bosom buddy? Ali stood by her throughout everything - and was her ONLY friend in court when the jury found her guilty of murder
Apart from Erin Patterson 's own legal team, who were paid to be there, just one person turned up in court every single day to support the triple killer. Alison Rose Prior, known as Ali, has been the most devoted loyal friend Erin - or anyone else - could ever have hoped for. Day after day, regardless of the incriminating evidence, bitter cold or ever-growing media pack, Ms Prior stuck by her friend through thick and thin. And when the jury delivered its damning series of ' verdicts, it was Ms Prior the killer immediately turned to. 'See you soon,' Patterson told her bosom buddy before being led away to begin her likely life sentence behind bars for the three murders and one attempted murder. Ms Prior left the court thronged by media, and as she fought back tears behind large sunglasses, she told reporters: 'I'm saddened.' Escorted by G4S security staff through the precincts of Morwell Law Courts - where the Supreme Court had held Patterson's ten-week trial - Ms Prior battled to keep her composure. 'I didn't have any expectations,' she added. 'It's the justice system and it is what it is.' Patterson was later whisked away to Dame Phyllis Frost prison, 200km away on the other side of Melbourne, far from her Leongatha home in Gippsland. But despite the distance, Ms Prior immediately vowed to remain Patterson's best mate as the mother-of-two now faces decades behind bars. 'I will see her,' Ms Prior defiantly insisted to a reporter's question. 'I'm her friend and I'll see her - I'll visit with her.' Ms Prior begged media to leave her alone so she could get to her car. As a sign of the intensity and closeness of their relationship, Patterson has granted Ms Prior complete power of attorney over her estate, giving her carte blanche over her substantial wealth and property. The pair are believed to have met through Facebook, where Patterson was an avid contributor to several True Crime groups. Ms Prior, who has a daughter with a rare genetic condition, had previously campaigned locally to reform the law on registering sex offenders and to prevent them living near schools. In the weeks after the agonising deaths of her estranged husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson - who were fatally poisoned by the beef Wellingtons she laced with death cap mushrooms - Patterson fled her Leongatha home as the net closed in on her. Patterson is said to have bunkered down at Ms Prior's four-bedroom bungalow, set in lush woodlands on the edge of rural Healesville, 65km north-east of Melbourne, as detectives pored over her own home looking for murder clues. Black sheets appeared around Patterson's Leongatha home ahead of the jury's verdict The night before Patterson was finally arrested, she threw a party at her home for Ms Prior and three other close female friends. On the evening of Wednesday, November 1, 2023, Patterson held the knees-up at the Leongatha property for her dwindling inner circle of friends. The weeknight gathering is believed to have been small and included Patterson's two children, a girl and a boy (who can't be identified for legal reasons). But it was still noisy enough that it was noticed by neighbours, who speculated Patterson threw the party in the certain knowledge that those murder charges were imminent. As the jury retired to consider her guilt 18 months later, it was rumoured Patterson would once again return to Ms Prior's home to hide out from the media if she was found innocent. Instead though, the jury unanimously found her guilty - and she was transported by prison van to her new jail cell as one of Australia's most notorious killers. The verdict ends one of the nation's most intriguing homicide cases - and now Patterson likely only has prison visits from Ms Prior to look forward to.
Daily Mail
10-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Details emerge of the PARTY Erin Patterson threw the night before her arrest - and the mysterious break-ins at her Leongatha home after she was handcuffed
The night before Erin Patterson was arrested, the so-called 'mushroom chef' threw a party at her home - in what may be her final taste of freedom for the rest of her life. On the evening of Wednesday, November 1, 2023, Patterson held a knees-up at her Leongatha, rural Victoria, property for a group of friends, believed to be her four closest female mates. Among them was her closest ally, social worker Alison Rose Prior, to whom Patterson had signed over power of attorney to, plus other members of her then-dwindling inner circle. The weeknight gathering is believed to have been small and included Patterson's two children, a girl and a boy. But it was still noisy enough that it was noticed by neighbours, who speculated Patterson threw the party in the knowledge that charges were imminent. The party followed months of pressure and speculation about Patterson's role in the death cap mushroom deaths of her estranged husband Simon's parents and aunt after a beef Wellington lunch at her house. Gail and Don Patterson, both 70, and his aunt, Heather Wilkinson, 66, died after eating Erin's dish - and the local pastor Ian Wilkinson survived being poisoned only after a brutal battle. It took a full three months for Patterson to be placed in handcuffs. The morning after the party, she was taken to Wonthaggi police station, some 40km away, and charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder. Patterson was finally convicted on Monday of the murders and attempted murder on Monday. A jury unanimously found her guilty of carrying out all counts at the July 29,2023 lunch and she will be sentenced over the next few months, perhaps to spend the rest of her life in jail. But back in second half of 2023, Patterson was 'the woman at the centre of the alleged toxic mushroom case' who, intentionally or not, had made the dish Beef Wellington into death on a plate. It would only later emerge that on August 2, before anyone had died, Erin had dumped the food dehydrator, which had traces of Amanita Phalloides mushrooms on it, at the local tip, the Koonwarra Transfer and Landfill Station. On August 4, the same day that Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson both died, police discovered the dehydrator at the tip and photographed it, while seizing CCTV records. On August 5, police formally interviewed Patterson for the first time, and the media began gathering at her home, which she fled on August 7, telling reporters, 'I didn't do anything wrong. 'I loved them and I'm devastated they are gone. They were some of the best people I've ever met.' In her ensuing panic, on August 8, Patterson returned to the house and left with a giant white suitcase. Before departing the scene, she told reporters: 'I'm going shithouse, thanks for asking. What happened is devastating, I'm grieving too.' (Shithouse is an Australian colloquialism for having a terrible time.) It is believed she headed to a meeting with Ms Prior and three other Victorian women at which they discussed the lunch, and Erin signed over her power of attorney. On August 11, she released a written statement to Victoria Police, which the ABC obtained two days later. In it, she said: 'I am now wanting to clear up the record because I have become extremely stressed and overwhelmed by the deaths of my loved ones. 'I am hoping this statement might help in some way. I believe if people understood the background more, they would not be so quick to rush to judgement. 'I am now devastated to think that these mushrooms may have contributed to the illness suffered by my loved ones. I really want to repeat that I had absolutely no reason to hurt these people whom I loved.' Patterson said it had not been previously reported that she was also hospitalised after the lunch with bad stomach pains and diarrhoea. She claimed she was put on a saline drip and given a 'liver protective drug'. In the statement, Patterson admitted she lied to detectives about disposing of the dehydrator at the tip 'a long time ago', and that she had been so worried she might lose custody of her children, she had panicked and dumped it. Erin Patterson's dance with the truth was well underway, Gippsland was crawling with homicide detectives and speculation on crime talk forums like Mumsnet and Websleuths swung between theories that she was completely innocent to being as evil as one of the witches from Shakespeare's Macbeth. On Paterson's last morning of freedom she was placed under arrest at home and driven to Wonthaggi, while detectives painstakingly picked apart her house. But that wasn't the last of the strange happenings at her five-bedroom home. The following month, in late December, Alison Prior posted images on Facebook of a masked man captured on CCTV at Patterson's house. Thieves had allegedly stolen televisions and vacuum cleaners, and Erin's red MG, which she was caught on CCTV driving to the local tip to dump the food dehydrator and other items. Ms Prior's social media post after the final alleged burglary said: 'This time they stole a car, TVs, vacuums. I have finally been able to retrieve CCTV footage from the second time they broke into the property and removed all the outside cameras. 'Police caught a couple of offenders from the first burglary where they stole a heap of things and we are now thinking they took all spare keys, car keys etc and were not retrieved by the police at the time. 'They have obviously passed the keys on to mates to come and go from the house as they please.' Ms Prior posted the CCTV on local community groups trying to identify the burglars but someone recognised the house as Erin's. The Nine Network attended the house and filmed Ms Prior rapidly closing the gates as their cameras approached. Ms Prior alleged the home had been broken into three times since Ms Patterson's arrest and that an intruder had tried to tear down security cameras, before attempting the break-in. Victoria Police subsequently arrested and charged two people for the alleged break-in. A woman, 23, and a man, 18, from the Melbourne suburb of Cheltenham were arrested in Patterson's allegedly stolen car at 1am on December 28. 'The pair are expected to be charged on summons to appear at a magistrates' court at a later date,' Victoria Police said at the time. Daily Mail Australia has asked Victoria Police if the accused thieves were convicted. Early on, crime forums were abuzz with talk of Erin Patterson, with some saying her performance in front of TV cameras - of tears and emotion - was unconvincing Alison Prior was the one supporter who attended court for the entirety of Erin Patterson's trial, telling reporters following the verdict that she was 'saddened' by what had happened. 'I don't have any expectations, it's the justice system and it has to be what it is,' she said. She declined to answer whether Patterson, whose home had been shrouded with black plastic tarpaulins in the days before the verdict, had anticipated she'd be found not guilty. Ms Prior has regularly visited Patterson at the Dame Phyllis Frost Women's Correctional Centre since her incarceration following her November 2023 arrest. After hearing her fate, an emotionless Patterson told Prior before being taken back to prison, 'See you soon'
Daily Mail
07-07-2025
- Daily Mail
What Erin Patterson told her friend after she was found guilty
Erin Patterson spoke to her friend Alison Rose Prior and said, 'See you soon', after learning her fate. Patterson was on Monday found guilty of murdering her three in-laws with death cap mushrooms in a beef Wellington that she served them for lunch at her home. As she was being led back down to the cells by court staff, Patterson made the comment, 'See you soon', to her best friend and supporter, Ali Rose Prior. Ms Prior left the court thronged by media. 'I'm saddened, and it is what it is,' she said when asked how she was feeling. 'I didn't have any expectations, it's the justice system and it is what it is,' she continued as walked outside, escorted by G4S security staff. One reporter asked, 'She said she would see you soon, were you hoping to see her?' 'I will see her,' Ms Prior replied, as she wept behind her sunglasses. '...I'm her friend and I'll see her - I'll visit with her.' Asked if Patterson was confident there would be a not-guilty verdict, she said: 'I don't know.' Ms Prior then begged media to leave her alone so she could get to her car. The verdict ends one of the nation's most intriguing homicide cases. Patterson sat defiantly throughout her 10-week trial, glaring at the media, members of the public and the family of the people she murdered with callous disregard. The mother-of-two had pleaded not guilty to the murders of Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson. They died after consuming death caps in the beef Wellingtons during lunch at Patterson's Leongatha home in southeast Victoria on July 29, 2023. Only 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. Seated at the back of courtroom four of the Supreme Court of Victoria, sitting at the Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court, Patterson, dressed in a paisley shirt, appeared stunned as her fate was sealed on Monday afternoon. Asked to deliver a verdict, the jury foreperson - one of only five women to sit on the original 15-person panel - simply stated, 'guilty'. The verdict produced an audible gasp from those within the packed courtroom, which included members of the Patterson clan. Patterson will now be taken back down to the Morwell Police Station cells where she had been kept throughout the trial. They are the cells she had grown to loathe throughout her trial, complaining about being denied a pillow, doona and her computer. She can expect to spend the next decades of her life caged within the walls of Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Melbourne's west alongside a rogue's gallery of female killers.
Daily Mail
07-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Erin's three words to her best friend after she was found guilty of murdering her in-laws
Erin Patterson spoke to her friend Alison Rose Prior and said, 'See you soon', before she was led down to the cells by court staff. Patterson was on Monday found guilty of murdering her three in-laws with death cap mushrooms in a beef Wellington that she served them for lunch at her home. As Ms Prior left the court, a reporter asked her, 'She said she would see you soon, were you hoping to see her?' 'I was,' Ms Prior replied.
