Erin Patterson served meals of beef Wellington, mashed potato and green beans at her home in the rural town of Leongartha on July 29, 2023. All four guests were hospitalised with poisoning
A woman accused of poisoning three members of her estranged husband’s family with a beef wellington laced with poisonous mushrooms “ate of a different coloured plate” from her victims, a court was told.
Erin Patterson, 50, has gone on trial in Australia after she was charged with the murders of her former ex-husband’s parents Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail Patterson’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, along with the attempted murder of Reverend Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband. Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
She served meals of beef Wellington, mashed potato and green beans at her home in the rural town of Leongartha on July 29, 2023. All four guests were hospitalised the next day with poisoning from death cap mushrooms, also known as amanita phalloides, that were added to the beef and pastry dish. Ian Wilkinson survived after a liver transplant.
Victoria state Supreme Court heard there were four large grey dinner plates and a smaller one which was tan orange, which survivor Ian Wilkinson ate from. The others all ate from large grey dinner plates. Erin ate from the smaller plate, prosecutors said.
When Heather Wilkinson was taken to the hospital the next morning, she told Simon Patterson she had been puzzled by Erin Patterson eating from a different plate that those served to the guests.
“I noticed that Erin put her food on a different plate to us. Her plate had colours on it. I wondered why that was. I’ve puzzled about it since lunch,” said Heather Wilkinson, according to the prosecution.
Simon Patterson told his aunt that his wife might have run out of plates. Rogers told the jury that Erin Patterson fabricated an ovarian cancer diagnosis to explain why her children didn’t attend the lunch.
“After the lunch, the accused announced that she had cancer and asked for advice on whether to tell the children or to keep it from them,” Rogers said.
“They had a discussion about it being best to be honest with the children. They prayed as a group for the accused’s health and wisdom in relation to telling the children,” Rogers added.
Two days after the lunch, Erin Patterson went to the hospital complaining of diarrhea and nausea. By then, medical staff had diagnosed her guests as suffering death cap poisoning.
Erin told authorities that she had cooked with a mixture of fresh mushrooms bought from a supermarket and dried mushrooms bought from an Asian food store. She could not identify the Asian business. Doctors insisted that Erin Patterson’s two children, then aged 9 and 14, be tested because their mother said they had eaten beef Wellington leftovers.
Erin Patterson said the children were safe because she had scraped the pastry and mushrooms from the steak. She explained the children didn’t like mushrooms. “The accused became teary and said she didn’t want to involve the kids,” Rogers said.
“She did not appear to be concerned so much about the children’s health, but rather about stressing them out,” Rogers added.
Rogers said Erin Patterson had not eaten poisonous mushrooms and had not fed her children the lunch leftovers.
The trial is expected to continue for six weeks. She is charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder. Murder carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and attempted murder carries a maximum 25 years in prison.