Erin Patterson trial: Alleged mushroom killer admits she would have fed meal to ex-partner if he turned up

Accused mushroom killer cook Erin Patterson admitted lying to police and conceded she would have fed her ex-partner a sixth beef Wellington meal had he turned up for the lethal lunch.

Her fourth day in the witness box of her triple murder trial was full of denials, including disputing evidence that she told her lunch guests she had cancer and that she had been perfecting a “fatal” recipe.

The 50-year-old she stands accused of murdering her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s cousin Heather Wilkinson, as well as the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson by serving them beef Wellington containing poisonous mushrooms at a lunch at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.

Ms Patterson emphatically told the Victoria Supreme Court trial she did not “intend to kill” or “harm” her lunch guests, emotionally responding “no” to both questions,

She told the court she lied to police about owning and using a food dehydrator, an appliance crucial to the case. As her ex-partner’s family were dying in hospital, she told police she had never owned or used a dehydrator, something she says she “lied about” due to a “stupid knee-jerk reaction” from being “scared”.

The Morwell court was shown a tax invoice from a Leongatha store for a Sunbeam food dehydrator with her name and details on it.

It is the same Sunbeam food dehydrator police recovered from a tip. Ms Patterson admitted, after leaving hospital in August 2023, to buying an e-waste bag, placing the food dehydrator it it and dumping the evidence at a tip.

‘Fatal dose’

Ms Patterson was asked by prosecutors if she intentionally put death cap mushrooms in the lunch she prepared.

“No, I didn’t know they’d (death cap mushrooms) been in it,” the accused said.

Multiple photos of the food dehydrator, in use, were shown to the jury. Most of those Ms Patterson says she took. All of those photos show only one food on the shelves ... mushrooms. However, Ms Patterson claims she also used the device for other foods including apples and bananas.

The mother of two previously told the court how she would conduct “experiments” in her dehydrator. She said sometimes after drying mushrooms, she would put them into her Thermomix, reduce them to dust and sprinkle it in foods to feed to her children. This was something she recalled doing on multiple occasions, hiding mushrooms in “spaghetti, lasagne, stew (and) brownies”.

“I was trying to get extra vegetables into my kids’ bodies,” she told the court.

The prosecution, however, alleged Ms Patterson was conducting her “experiments” to perfect the process of drying mushrooms and had been calculating the “fatal dose” needed to kill her lunch guests.

The court was shown an image of mushrooms on the shelves of her food dehydrator, which was placed on a set of scales. Metadata showed the image was last modified on May 4, 2023.

The prosecution took Ms Patterson back to evidence presented from mycologis Tom May, who claimed the mushrooms in the image were “consistent with Amanita Phalloides (death cap mushrooms)”. Ms Patterson disputed the claim saying “I don’t think they are”.

“I suggest that you were weighing these death cap mushrooms so that you could calculate the weight required for the administration of a fatal dose,” lead prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC said. “Agree or disagree?” she asked.

“Disagree,” Ms Patterson replied.

A ‘shift’ in relationship

Ms Patterson says she noticed a “shift” in her relationship with her ex-partner, Simon Patterson, from around November 2022.

She says around then, communication mainly became “functional”.

In a series of messages shared on the app Signal, Ms Patterson told a group chat with Don and Gail Patterson about an issue over school fees.

She told the court, “I wanted Don and Gail to help Simon and I communicate better,” about shared costs for their children

Ms Patterson said she thought if Simon knew that his parents knew about his “behaviour”, he might act differently.

Mr Patterson did not attend Ms Patterson’s beef wellington lunch, telling her before the event he felt “too uncomfortable” attending. Ms Patterson served five beef Wellington’s when guests arrived. A sixth beef Wellington was placed in the fridge as guests took their seat.

“If he’d come, I would have given him a beef Wellington too. But not one with death cap mushrooms intentionally.”

Pies, lies and what Erin denies

Ms Patterson spent much of the afternoon denying allegations put against her by the prosecution, disputing multiple witnesses’ evidence.

She admitted to lying to her ex-partner’s family about having to go to an appointment at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne about a “lump” in her elbow in June 2023. When her in-laws followed up, Ms Patterson doubled down, saying there was “a bit to digest”, and indicated that she “might talk more about it” when she saw Don and Gail Patterson in person.

Ms Patterson denied that she was planning her beef Wellington lunch at that time and also said she did not tell Don and Gail about her made-up health issues in the hope that they would pass the information on to their son, her ex-partner Simon.

Witness Katrina Cripps, a child protection worker, previously told the court Ms Patterson spoke to her, asking for “advice” on how to tell her children she had a serious illness. Ms Cripps also claimed Ms Patterson said she was having the family over for lunch to seek their advice on telling the kids.

Ms Patterson denied the accusation that these allegations had any part in her children not attending her fatal lunch. Her children did not attend the lunch and were at the movies.

The prosecution suggested Ms Patterson believed her “lie would never be found out” because her guests “would die” after the “special” lunch she made.

“I suggest that you never thought you would have to account for this lie of having cancer, because you thought that the lunch guests would die and your lie would never be found out,” Dr Rogers said.

“That’s not true,” Ms Patterson replied.

She denied telling her lunch guests she had cancer and denied talking about a lump found on an image, as previously alleged by witness Ian Wilkinson, the sole-surviving lunch guest.

However, Ms Patterson says she “might have” told guests she needed chemotherapy. The accused agreed that she wanted them to think she might be receiving “treatment” for cancer. “I don’t remember saying I’d had a diagnosis,” she added.

New reason

After her deadly beef Wellington lunch, Ms Patterson was in contact with police, the health department and senior doctors from Monash Health. She told them she did not forage for mushrooms.

However, when asked in court is she foraged or “went mushrooming”, Ms Patterson admitted “I did”, including the period of April 28, 2023, up until the lunch that left three people dead.

The accused claimed that when she claimed she didn’t forage when speaking with a doctor from Monash Health, she was only answering in the context of the beef Wellington she cooked.

The trial continues.