Prosecutors wanted to use digital records showing Patterson’s post on a Facebook group about her cat eating a poisonous mushroom – despite her not having one – in her trial
Mushroom killer Erin Patterson wrote a chilling Facebook post years before carrying out the triple murders of her family members, it has been alleged.
Patterson, a convicted triple murderer, was found guilty in July of murdering three of her relatives, parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, and attempting to kill another with a beef Wellington she had laced with a toxic mushroom. Only Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson, a local pastor, survived, recovering after weeks of treatment following the horror dinner in Leongatha, in Victoria, Australia, on July 29, 2023.
Details about the 50-year-old’s alleged actions before the fateful day have now started emerging, including of one “so-called cat post” on Facebook written years beforehand. It comes after woman was jailed for leaving eight starving dogs to eat each other in hellhole flat.
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Patterson is alleged to have posted on the social media platform about her cat being poisoned after eating a dangerous mushroom in 2020, but she reportedly did not own a cat at the time. News.com.au reports that she wrote about the animal “having a vomit” after rooting around in grassland near trees where she lived.
She allegedly wrote: “My cat chewed on this mushroom just now. He is having a vomit. Was in grassland near trees, I’m in Victoria Australia.”
The post, details of which were aired during pre-trial hearings at the Supreme Court of Victoria, was alleged to have been made to a group named Poisons help: Emergency identification for mushrooms and plants. It was disclosed by prosecutors building a case against her as a means of proving she was trying to access information regarding the poisonous properties of mushrooms.
The evidence was not ruled in, however, meaning prosecutors did not have the chance to add additional details showing she had never owned a cat, or that several photos of mushrooms attached to the post were located on an SD card recovered from her home. Prosecutors were barred from using the post and images by presiding Justice Christopher Beale.
The judge found the post – made three years before the killings in 2023 – was too far separated from the circumstances of her crimes, meaning they were considered irrelevant. The post was among several digital records Judge Beale deemed inadmissable during the pre-trial hearings, with members of the press initially barred from reporting the details so Patterson’s right to appeal could be preserved.
The order was lifted today, with other allegations made about Patterson coming alongside the details about the “so-called cat post”. Among others were allegations that she had tried to repeatedly kill her estranged husband previously using pasta, cookies she claimed were baked by her daughter and curry.
Patterson was found guilty of using deathcap mushrooms to kill her husband Simon Patterson’s relatives Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, on July 7 following an 11-week trial.