Erin Patterson trial: Detective details search warrant on alleged poisoner’s home

Alleged triple-murderer Erin Patterson questioned “who died” after homicide squad detectives revealed they would be searching her home, her trial has been told.

The trial, now in its fifth week, heard from Detective Sergeant Luke Farrell on Tuesday morning about a search warrant executed at the Leongatha home in Victoria’s Gippsland on August 5.

Questioned about the search warrant by defence barrister Colin Mandy SC, Sergeant Farrell said he arrived about 11.40am on August 5 and left shortly after 3.29pm.

The jury was told Ms Patterson was informed the search came after two deaths and expressed to Sergeant Farrell she did not know this previously.

“She was told Heather Wilkinson had died and she expressed surprise,” he said.

He told the court he was unsure if Ms Patterson was informed of Gail’s death, but said “if that was the case she would have been told that as well”.

Mr Mandy read from a transcript of a video taken of the interaction, outlining that Sergeant Farrell introduced who he was and that police would be searching the home in “connection with the death of two people”.

“Who died?” Erin asked the detectives, the defence barrister said.

Sergeant Farrell agreed the interaction as recorded in the transcript accorded to his memory.

Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson used death cap mushrooms to deliberately spike a lunch with her in-laws on July 29, 2023, while her defence argues the deaths were a tragic accident.

Her husband Simon Patterson’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and aunt, Heather Wilkinson, died in early August 2023 from multiple organ failure due to death cap poisoning.

Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and a fourth charge of attempted murder over the illness suffered by Ms Wilkinson’s husband Ian, who survived the lunch.

‘Spattered’ recipe page found in kitchen: court

A cookbook by popular Aussie cook Nagi Maehashi was found in Erin Patterson’s house, the jury was told.

Inside the kitchen, Sergeant Farrell told the court that he located a Recipetin Eats cookbook to the right of a cooktop.

“It had a piece of tissue used as a bookmark but it was otherwise closed,” he said.

A photo of the book titled Dinner by Nagi Maehashi was displayed to the jury, with the cover boasting “150+ recipes from Australia’s favourite cook”.

Sergeant Farrell said he opened the book, locating a recipe for beef wellington “spattered with cooking” remnants.

“It wasn’t the bookmarked page, but on a separate page there was a beef wellington recipe,” he said.

Police did not seize, examine plates: court

Still images taken from a video walkthrough of Ms Patterson’s Leongatha home were shown to the jury, with Mr Mandy focusing on three images of plates in a draw, on a kitchen bench and in a dishwasher.

Sergeant Farrell was asked whether he was aware that the “issue of plates” was known to police at the time of the search.

“I would say that’s right,” the officer responded.

He told the court photos were not taken of all the plates in the house and the only plate seized was a fruit platter found in the fridge.

Earlier in the trial, lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson told the jury the four lunch guests were served beef Wellington on large grey dinner plates while Ms Patterson had a smaller tan-coloured plate.

‘Highly unlikely’ mushrooms contaminated: Health probe

The trial, now in its fifth week, heard from senior public health officer Sally Anne Atkinson about a Department of Health investigation in the week following the lunch.

Titled the Patterson Family Outbreak, a report into the poisonings was finalised on August 11, 2023.

Returning to the witness box on Tuesday, Ms Atkinson was taken to a Department of Health report prepared following an investigation into the poisonings.

She told the jury the probe lasted from July 31 to August 11, 2023, and concluded after no new information was coming in, determining it to be an “isolated incident”.

Ms Atkinson was taken to the findings of the report, which stated it was “highly unlikely” the commercial mushroom supply in Victoria had been contaminated with death cap mushrooms.

She agreed with the suggestion this was, in part, due to the fact death caps cannot be cultivated, only growing in the wild in a symbiotic relationship with oak trees.

Ms Atkinson said a site visit to Leongatha Woolworths, where Ms Patterson said she purchased fresh button mushrooms, concluded the store only sold fresh mushrooms from a large commercial supplier.

There were no instances of suspected tampering or other unusual activity, the report found.

Ms Atkinson said the Department of Health was satisfied with the results of a probe of Asian grocers in areas Ms Patterson nominated she bought dried, sliced mushrooms from.

“There was nothing that matched the description she gave,” she said.

The jury was told the risk to public health was deemed to be “very low”, with no food recalls warranted.

Giving evidence on Monday, Ms Atkinson told the jury she launched a probe into the then-suspected mushroom poisonings after the Department of Health was contacted by a doctor at the Austin Hospital on July 31.

She said she convened a working group to investigate the cause and any public health concerns, speaking with Ms Patterson a number of times over the following days.

Ms Atkinson told the court she requested the Monash Council inspect Asian grocers in the Clayton, Oakleigh and Mount Waverley suburbs after Ms Patterson reported buying dried mushrooms in April 2023.

She said Ms Patterson told her she purchased the mushrooms for a pasta dish, but did not use them after noting they had a “funny and strong” smell.

Instead, she told the jury, Ms Patterson said they sat in a Tupperware container in the pantry until she pulled them out for the lunch, where they were added to fresh mushrooms and processed into a “paste”.

“She said it was a meal she never made before and she wanted to do something fancy,” Ms Atkinson said.

In a series of conversations and text messages, Ms Atkinson probed Ms Patterson further on the mushrooms, questioning where they came from and what the package looked like.

She told the jury Ms Patterson was unable to say where they were bought, believed she paid cash, and no longer had the packaging.

“It didn’t look very professional,” Ms Atkinson recounted Ms Patterson telling her about the small see-through bag with a white label.

“Looking at the size and volume of things in the supermarket I realise there’s no way it can have been 100g worth,” a message on August 2 from Ms Patterson reads.

“I was thinking about the weight of that amount of fresh mushrooms I think but dried weigh a lot less. It was probably more like 20g dry in a little snack size bag but without the resealable top.”

The trial continues.