Erin Patterson trial: Crown’s final witness Detective leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall to continue evidence

Erin Patterson’s purchases of diet books and snacks have been the subject of questions by her barrister as the homicide squad detective who laid the charges gave evidence in the alleged killer’s trial.

Detective Leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall on Thursday returned to the witness box, where barrister Colin Mandy SC quizzed the officer on aspects of his investigation.

Constable Eppingstall confirmed he obtained Ms Patterson’s Booktopia records, which included a “large number” of books relating to diets.

Earlier this week, the jury was told Constable Eppingstall would be the last witness called by the Crown in the case.

Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson intentionally poisoned a beef wellington lunch with death cap mushrooms on July 29, 2023.

Her lawyers, on the other hand, have asked the jury to find the deaths were a tragic accident and acquit Ms Patterson.

Her husband Simon Patterson’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and aunt, Heather Wilkinson, died in the week after the lunch from organ failure attributed to mushroom poisoning.

Ms Wilkinson’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, fell gravely ill but recovered after a long stint in hospital.

Bank records show purchases on day after fatal lunch

Constable Eppingstall was taken by Mr Mandy to banking records obtained for Ms Patterson’s Bendigo Bank account between July 1 and August 4, 2023.

The officer confirmed earlier records, including April 2023 when Ms Patterson said she purchased dried mushrooms from an Asian grocer in Melbourne, were not obtained.

“No sir,” he said.

The jury were shown two bank records that were consistent with earlier evidence about stops Ms Patterson made in the afternoon of July 30, 2023, driving to and from Tyabb, on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, for her son’s flying lesson.

The records capture $15.10 at a BP service station in Caldermeade, where a confectionary, a ham, cheese and tomato sandwich and a sweet chilli chicken wrap were purchased.

A second record, dated in the bank records as August 1, shows $13.10 spent at a doughnut van in Koo Wee Rup.

Simon, Don and Gail Patterson’s phones were analysed by police

Asked questions about Simon’s phone, Constable Eppingstall told the jury that Ms Patterson’s estranged husband had provided police with his phone and those of his parents.

He told the court that an attempted extraction of Simon’s phone on August 6 failed, and his phone was returned. 

“Given that his parents had just passed away we gave it back,” Constable Eppingstall said.

“He re-attended on September 12 and it was done by our cybercrime.”

Constable Eppingstall confirmed that Simon informed him that he’d recently got a new phone, but it was his understanding the same phone was provided on August 6 and September 12.

The detective said the extraction conducted on Simon’s phone was limited to messages found on the device.

The jury was told messages from encrypted messaging platform Signal were extracted from Gail’s phone, but her husband’s was “fairly empty”.

“I don’t think he really used his phone much,” the officer said.

Erin’s medical records probed by defence

After prosecutor Jane Warren told the court that she had no further questions for Constable Eppingstall on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Mandy began to probe the detective before the hearing was adjourned for the day.

His first question asked the officer if his client had no criminal history, with Constable Eppingstall responding: “Yes”.

Mr Mandy then turned to whether Ms Patterson was helpful in the initial stages of the investigation, advising police where to find leftovers of the lunch, giving her gate access code and permission to break into her home if needed.

Again the detective said “yes”.

Over the last 45 minutes of the day, Mr Mandy took Constable Eppingstall through a series of medical notes, phone messages and hospital records about Ms Patterson’s health.

Records shown to the jury in late 2021 and early 2022 indicate Ms Patterson was seeking medical advice for a host of health complaints including fatigue, weight gain and overactive bladder, pins and needles and clumsiness.

“Erin worries about ovary cancer, has been googling her symptoms, thinks her symptoms may suggestive of ovary cancer,” a doctor’s note from October 2021 reads, indicating follow up tests had been scheduled.

Another medical record outlining Ms Patterson’s self-reported family history, states that her paternal aunt and maternal aunt had ovarian cancer.

Messages on encrypted messaging platform Signal between Ms Patterson and Simon Patterson on January 4 and 5, 2022, record her complaining about her health while on a holiday to Tasmania.

“It’s my heart that’s troubling me,” Ms Patterson wrote.

“I’m struggling with the energy to do basic things like get in and out of the car and after I have a shower I need to lie down and rest.”

Ms Patterson later messages she’s “been doing some research” and her symptoms fit with right-sided heart failure.

Mr Mandy asks Constable Eppingstall if the records were “consistent with Erin Patterson being concerned about various health issues?”

“Yes, sir,” the detective replies.

Prosecutors alleged Ms Patterson orchestrated the lunch with the “false claim” of a cancer diagnosis, while her defence contents she only told the lunch guests she had a “suspected” diagnosis.

The trial continues.