The verdict of a sensational case that has captivated international attention for more than a year has finally been reached.
Erin Patterson, 50, from Victoria, Australia, has been found guilty of killing three of her relatives and trying to kill a fourth by serving them a poisoned beef Wellington lunch.
After around six days of deliberation and a 10-week trial in Morwell, a 12-person jury decided on the charges that Patterson had deliberately added deadly death cap mushrooms to the lunch she served at her home in Leongatha on July 29, 2023.
Highlights
- Erin Patterson was found guilty of murdering three relatives and attempting to kill a fourth by poison in a beef Wellington lunch.
- Toxic death cap mushrooms were deliberately added by Patterson to the meal served on July 29, 2023, in Leongatha, Australia.
- Three victims died from mushroom poisoning; the fourth, pastor Ian Wilkinson, survived after weeks in hospital.
- Prosecutors highlighted four deceptions: fake cancer claim, poisoning, faking illness, and evidence cover-up.
- Patterson pleaded innocence, claiming accidental poisoning, but the jury convicted her based on strong evidence.
Erin Patterson has been found guilty of murdering her relatives
Image credits: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images
They found Patterson guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
The victims included her former parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson—parents of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson—as well as his aunt and uncle, Heather and Ian Wilkinson.
Don, Gail, and Heather died because of the fateful incident. Ian, who is the pastor of the Korumburra Baptist Church, also ate the meal but survived after spending several weeks in hospital.
Patterson invited them all over under the false claim that she had cancer and needed to talk about how to tell her children. She invited Simon as well, but he chose not to come, saying he felt “too uncomfortable.”
Soon after eating the meal, all four guests became violently ill with vomiting and diarrhea. They went to hospital, where they were placed in induced comas as doctors tried to find a way to save them.
Later, the four guests were diagnosed with Amanita mushroom poisoning, which is caused by consuming poisonous death cap mushrooms.
On August 4, Gail and Heather died from multiple organ failure caused by the poisonous mushrooms. Don passed away the following day after failing to recover from a liver transplant.
Ian recovered after spending almost two months in the hospital.
Ian Wilkinson survived after several weeks in hospital
Image credits: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images
During the trial, the prosecutors alleged that Patterson had secretly picked the toxic mushrooms after seeing their location on a public website.
They said she bought a food dehydrator in April 2023, the same day she was near a known mushroom site, and used it to dry the mushrooms. She later dumped the dehydrator in a recycling center on August 2.
Her fingerprints and traces of death cap mushrooms were found on the device.
According to the prosecution, Patterson faked illness in the days after the lunch and tried to cover her tracks by disposing of the dehydrator. She also reset her devices to factory settings to delete evidence.
Patterson added deadly death cap mushrooms to the lunch they had
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Prosecutor Nanette Rogers alleged there were “four calculated deceptions” at the heart of the case.
“The first deception was the fabricated cancer claim she used as a pretence for the lunch invitation,” she said.
“The second deception was the lethal doses of poison the accused secreted in the home-cooked Beef Wellingtons. The third deception was her attempts to make it seem that she also suffered death cap mushroom poisoning, and the fourth deception, the sustained cover-up she embarked upon to conceal the truth.”
Patterson’s defense lawyer, Colin Mandy, called the deaths “a terrible accident.” He accused the prosecution of being selective with the evidence and pushing “four ridiculous, convoluted propositions.”
The main argument the defense put forth was that Patterson had no motive.
Mandy gave a few reasons why Patterson would not want to kill her guests: she had no money issues, lived in a big house, and had almost full-time custody of her two young children, who were very close to their grandparents.
Image credits: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images
In response, Rogers accused Patterson of having two faces.
One, where she presented a good relationship with her in-laws to the world, and another, a hidden face, she showed only her Facebook friends, which suggested she wanted “nothing to do with them.”
Rogers presented messages that Patterson had sent to friends on Facebook, over her in-laws not getting involved in a child support dispute between her and Simon.
“I’m sick of this s**t. I want nothing to do with them. I thought his parents would want him to do the right thing but it seems their concern about not wanting to feel uncomfortable and not wanting to get involved in their sons personal matters are overriding that so f**k em,” she wrote in December 2022.
“I wish I’d never said it … I feel ashamed for saying it, and I wish the family didn’t have to hear that I said that. They didn’t deserve it,” Patterson responded in her defense.
The judge, Justice Christopher Beale, reminded the jury that the prosecution did not need to prove a motive.
He told them their job was to decide if the evidence showed that Patterson was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
“This is a court of law, not a court of morals,” he said. “The issue is not whether she is in some sense responsible for the tragic consequences of the lunch, but whether the prosecution has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that she is criminally responsible for those consequences.”
The deceased include her ex-husband’s parents and his aunt
Image credits: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images
The jurors comprised seven men and five women. Under Australian law, the jurors can’t be publicly identified, and they’re prohibited from disclosing jury room deliberations after the trial.
Patterson consistently pleaded her innocence during the eight days of testimony, including during cross-examination. She claimed she inadvertently added foraged mushrooms to the meal.
Victoria police reiterated the jury’s decision in a statement.
“Our thoughts are with the respective families at this time and we acknowledge how difficult these past two years have been for them. We will continue to support them in every way possible following this decision,” the statement said.
“The Patterson and Wilkinson families will not be supplying a statement via Victoria police and have asked for privacy at this time,” they added.
Patterson will be sentenced at a later date. She faces a life sentence for the murders.