SYDNEY — An Australian woman who murdered three of her in-laws with a meal of toxic mushrooms also allegedly tried to murder her husband using poisoned pasta, a chicken curry and a sandwich wrap, evidence showed Friday after a judge allowed its disclosure.
A jury last month found that Erin Patterson lured her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, to lunch at her home and poisoned them with servings of Beef Wellington that contained death cap mushrooms.
They also found the 50-year-old guilty of the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband, who survived the 2023 meal at Erin Patterson’s home in Leongatha, a town of about 6,000 people about 84 miles southeast of Melbourne.
Patterson was initially charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder in 2023, with the four additional counts relating to her estranged husband, Simon Patterson.
Justice Christopher Beale previously ruled the charges should be split into two separate trials, before the prosecution dropped the attempted murder charges relating to Simon Patterson on the eve of the first trial.
That meant details of the alleged attempts on her husband’s life in 2021 and 2022 were never heard by the jury.
Simon Patterson leaving court in Morwell, Australia, on May 2.Martin Keep / AFP via Getty Images
“After the first time I got sick, I had the idea I got sick from Erin’s food,” Simon Patterson told a pretrial hearing in Melbourne in October 2024.
He eventually began keeping a spreadsheet of his illnesses that the court heard all happened after eating his estranged wife’s cooking, including a penne bolognese, a chicken curry and a sandwich wrap.
The alleged poisonings left him close to death, and he became so ill he was temporarily paralyzed and had part of his bowel removed, the court heard at the time.
Evidence from a computer seized from Patterson’s home showing searches for other kinds of poisons was also excluded from the trial.
Patterson maintained her innocence throughout the case that has gripped Australia, with her defense calling the deaths a “terrible accident.” She pleaded not guilty to the counts of attempted murder against her husband.
The court will next hear the case on Aug. 25, the first of a two-day plea hearing where victim impact statements will be read.