Mushroom trial verdict: Erin Patterson found guilty on three counts of murder, one count of attempted murder

Erin Patterson has been found guilty of three counts of murder and one of attempted murder after three relatives died and one was critically injured after a beef Wellington meal that contained poisoned mushrooms.

Over 10 weeks, details of Patterson’s actions in the lead up to the fatal lunch and afterwards were drawn into sharp focus as more than 50 witnesses – including Patterson herself – were grilled in the witness box.

Prosecutors argued the only reasonable explanation for what happened is Patterson knowingly seeking out death cap mushrooms and including them in the lunch on July 29, 2023, intending to kill or seriously injure her guests.

Her defence, on the other hand, argued Patterson accidentally included the deadly mushrooms and acted poorly out of panic she would be wrongly blamed.

Patterson’s parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson died from multiple organ failure linked to mushroom poisoning in the week following the lunch.

During his final address to the jury, on day 40 of the trial, Justice Christopher Beale listed nine issues the jury would have to decide and summarised the evidence and arguments for each.

These were;

Whether Patterson deliberately included death cap mushrooms in the meal;

Whether she had the state of mind necessary for the charges;

Whether she had good reasons not to kill her lunch guests;

Whether she foraged for edible wild mushrooms;

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Why her children were not at the lunch;

Why Patterson cooked individual beef wellingtons;

Whether the lunch guests had different-coloured dinner plates;

Whether Patterson allocated her own plate;

Whether Patterson engaged in incriminating conduct after the lunch.

The judge said the “ultimate” issues were whether Patterson deliberately included death caps and whether she had the state of mind necessary, but the other issues could inform their judgement on those issues.

Justice Beale told jurors the case had attracted “unprecedented media attention” and directed them to not let it influence them.

“No-one in the media, in public, in your workplace, or in your homes have sat in that jury box throughout the trial, seeing and hearing all the witnesses, mostly in person,” he said.

“You, and you alone, are best placed to decide whether the prosecution have proved their case beyond reasonable doubt. No-one else.”

During the trial, the jury heard Patterson extended invitations to her husband Simon Patterson and four of his family members after the Sunday service at the Korumburra Baptist Church on July 16.

Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband and the Church’s pastor, recalled his wife was “fairly excited”.

“We were very happy to be invited, yes. It seemed like maybe our relationship with Erin was going to improve,” he told the jury.

Simon initially agreed to attend, but pulled out the night before, texting Patterson that he was “too uncomfortable” with the prospect.

He told the court he and Patterson had an amicable relationship in the years since their separation in 2015, but things had changed at the end of 2022.

She responded minutes later, saying she was disappointed and urging Simon to change his mind.

“ … I wanted it to be a special meal as I may not be able to host a lunch like this again for some time,” she wrote.

On the stand, Patterson said she may have exaggerated but wanted to make Simon feel bad for not attending.

The four lunch guests, Don, Gail, Ian and Heather, arrived together about 12.30pm and were shown around the home Patterson had built the year prior.

They sat down and ate the individually-portioned beef wellingtons and left about 3.45pm, with each of the guests falling ill overnight.

Giving evidence, Ian Wilkinson recalled Patterson eating off a smaller “orangey-tan” coloured plate while the guests ate off larger grey plates.

He also said Patterson revealed a cancer diagnosis, asked for advice on how to break the news to her two children and the group praying together.

Patterson herself, confirmed she had never been diagnosed with cancer and disputed she said she did, but recalled insinuating she was undergoing medical testing for a cancer concern.

This, she agreed, was a lie, but explained she was planning to have weight loss surgery and intended to use the lie as cover to avoid embarrassing conversations.

Patterson told the jury she did not own white plates or any sets of four matching plates, with her lawyers arguing Ian was mistaken.

On the stand, she also claimed she’d never made beef wellington before and modified a RecipeTin Eats recipe from a traditional log to individual portions because she could not find an appropriate cut of meat.

Each of the lunch guests were in hospital the morning of July 30 and their conditions continued to deteriorate to the point the quartet were on life support and in induced comas by August 1.

Patterson meanwhile, said she was suffering regular diarrhoea but drove her son to a flying lesson in Tyabb – a more than two hour round trip – in the afternoon of July 30.

She attended Leongatha Hospital the following day, where she was told by Dr Chris Webster that doctors suspected death cap poisoning in the other guests and she needed immediate treatment.

Patterson discharged herself against medical advice about 5 minutes after arriving and returned an hour and 38 minutes later when she was admitted.

She told the jury she attended thinking she had gastro and was not prepared to be admitted but returned after sorting a few things out at home.

Patterson was taken to hospital in Melbourne, alongside her two children who she claimed to have served leftovers with the pastry and mushrooms scrapped off for dinner on July 30.

The trio were discharged the following day on August 1 and returned home.

None of the medical witnesses in the trial said Patterson appeared unwell and she showed no markers of death cap poisoning but intensive care specialist Professor Andrew Bersten said her medical records were consistent with a diarrhoeal illness.

Heather Wilkinson and Gail Patterson both died on August 4 and Don Patterson died the following day.

The jury heard the morning after Patterson was discharged, she drove to the Koonwarra Transfer Station and dumped her dehydrator which was later located by police and found to have death cap remnants.

Prosecutors alleged Patterson deliberately sourced the death caps, pointing to two sightings posted to citizen science website iNaturalist in the nearby towns of Loch and Outtrim.

They also pointed to evidence from digital forensic scientist Dr Matthew Sorrell that her phone records indicate possible visits to those towns in April and May.

Prosecutors alleged Patterson made individual portions of beef wellington so she could control what went into them to “devastating effect”.

They alleged she feigned death cap poisoning, spun a story about feeding the leftovers to her children and dumped the dehydrator as an effort to avoid suspicion.

“She has told lies upon lies because she knew the truth would implicate her,” Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC said.

“When she knew her lies had been uncovered, she came up with a carefully constructed narrative to fit with the evidence – almost.”

Prosecutors called on the jury to reject Patterson’s account.

On the stand, Patterson denied deliberately sourcing the death caps but told the jury she was an amateur wild mushroom forager.

She said she picked and dehydrated mushrooms from the Korumburra Botanical Gardens earlier that year and now believes it’s possible she accidentally included them in the meal.

Patterson told the jury she’d bought dried mushrooms from an Asian grocer in Melbourne in April that year, storing them in a Tupperware container in her pantry and adding them to the duxelles because she thought the dish was “a little bland”.

Explaining why she dumped the dehydrator, Patterson said Simon had accused her of using it to poison his parents while in hospital on August 1 and she began to panic fearing she would be wrongly blamed.

She also confirmed she did not tell anyone, from police to doctors and public health authorities about her foraging or suspicion.

“The lies in the days afterwards – everything that she does in the days afterwards, doesn’t change what her intention was at the time of serving the meal,” defence barrister Colin Mandy SC said.

“And a person, you might think, who accidentally made four people very unwell … that person has a motive to tell a lot of lies.”

Her defence pointed to a lack of motive put forward by the prosecution, suggesting all the evidence in the case indicated she had good relationships with her in-laws.

“Erin Patterson had a motive to keep these people in her world … especially so they could keep supporting her and her children,” Mr Mandy said.

Patterson’s defence pointed to three biological markers; low potassium, elevated haemoglobin and elevated fibrinogen; as evidence she was sick, just not sick as her guests.

Mr Mandy said the evidence in the trial was people could have different severity of illness from death cap poisoning and Patterson had given an account of vomiting in the hours after the lunch.

She will return to court at a later date.

— With Newswire