Erin Patterson, the woman accused of serving her ex-husband’s family poisonous mushrooms, is photographed in Melbourne, Australia, on April 15, 2025. (PHOTO / AP)

SYDNEY – An Australian woman accused of murdering three of her estranged husband’s elderly relatives with poisonous mushrooms gave her account of the fatal lunch on Wednesday, in a case that has gripped the public.

Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with the July 2023 murders of her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, along with the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband.

The prosecution alleges she knowingly served the guests lethal death cap mushrooms in a Beef Wellington at her home in Leongatha, a town of around 6,000 people some 135 km (84 miles) from Melbourne.

READ MORE: Australian woman charged with daughter’s murder dies in prison

She denies the charges, with her defense saying the deaths were a “terrible accident”. She faces a life sentence if found guilty.

The accused, the first witness for her own defense and who began her evidence on Monday afternoon, repeatedly wept as she told the court on Wednesday she may have accidentally included foraged mushrooms into the food she served.

“Now I think there was a possibility there were foraged ones in there,” she said as she was questioned by her own barrister, Colin Mandy.

The court also heard on Wednesday that Erin Patterson had invented medical issues partly to elicit sympathy from her estranged husband’s relatives, from whom she said she felt she was growing apart.

“I didn’t want their care of me to stop, so I kept it going. I shouldn’t have done it,” she told the court.

“Did you lie to them?” Mandy asked. “I did lie to them,” the accused replied, through tears.

The prosecution alleges Patterson invented the medical issues to lure the victims to her home for the meal, a claim she denies.

The prosecution rested its case on Monday, following a month of evidence from witnesses, including relatives and medical, forensic and mushroom experts.

READ MORE: Australian woman accused of triple mushroom murders breaks down in court

The trial, which began on April 29, has seen intense interest from Australian and international media, with podcasters, journalists and documentary-makers descending on the town of Morwell, around two hours east of Melbourne, where the trial is being held.

State broadcaster ABC’s daily podcast about proceedings is currently the most popular in the country, while many Australian newspapers have been running live blogs on the case.

The trial, scheduled to conclude this month, continues.

By Mikaela Ortolan and Joseph Dunstan

Photo: ABC News: Anita Lester

Accused triple-murderer Erin Patterson has given her account of how she made a beef Wellington dish that resulted in the deaths of three relatives and made another seriously ill.

Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of her parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson.

Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, was the sole surviving guest of the lunch.

On Wednesday, Patterson’s defence lawyer Colin Mandy SC continued to question her as her evidence entered a third day.

Patterson told the court that at the time of the lunch, she had been concerned that her relationship with the wider Patterson family, including her in-laws, was becoming more distant after her separation from her husband Simon.

She said for her, the meal on 29 July, 2023, represented an opportunity to be more “proactive” about maintaining that relationship.

Patterson said she chose to prepare beef Wellingtons for the lunch because she wanted to make something special and her mother had made it for “really important occasions” in the past.

She told the court she found the recipe in her RecipeTin Eats cookbook, but she said she made some “deviations” to the recipe.

“The primary one was, I couldn’t find, you know, the big log that the recipe called for … so I had to use individual steaks so I had to adapt to that,” she said.

She said by making individual servings she used a larger quantity of mushrooms and pastry to cover the cuts of meat.

Patterson also chose not to put prosciutto in the dish because she said Don Patterson did not eat pork and she removed a crepe layer the recipe called for because it “looked a little bit complicated”.

Foraged mushrooms may have been added to meal, court hears

While outlining the ingredients she used to the jury, Patterson said she had started preparing six individual beef Wellingtons early in the morning on the day of the lunch, using mushrooms purchased from Woolworths.

“As I was cooking it down, I tasted it a few times and it seemed a little bland, to me,” she said.

“So I decided to put in the dried mushrooms that I’d bought from the grocer that I still had in the pantry.”

She said at the time she believed they were dried mushrooms purchased from Melbourne but then conceded they may have been foraged.

“Now I think that there was a possibility that there were foraged ones in there as well,” she said.

She told the jury she was aware of poisonous mushrooms growing in the Gippsland area but denied ever foraging for mushrooms in Loch and Outtrim, where the court previously heard death cap mushrooms were flagged on a website.

Family showed compassion when she raised medical issues

The court has previously heard that Patterson organised the lunch to discuss a cancer diagnosis but it has been revealed in court that she has never had cancer and she agreed she misled them.

Patterson became emotional on Wednesday when she told the jury she had lied to her mother-in-law about a number of medical issues.

The court was shown messages previously seen by the jury where Gail asked Patterson about a medical appointment she had told her about regarding a lump on her arm.

In the message exchange, Patterson told Gail she had a needle biopsy and an MRI but she admitted to the court both were lies.

“Some weeks prior, I had been having an issue with my elbow with pain and I thought there was a lump there and I had told Don and Gail about that,” she said.

“They had shown quite a lot of care about that, which felt really nice.”

She said she maintained the lies even though the issue had started to resolve because she felt embarrassed.

“I shouldn’t have done it.”

Accused says cancer lie hid gastric bypass surgery plans

Patterson said at the lunch, she led her guests to believe she required treatment for ovarian cancer and they prayed for her health.

“I led them to believe that I might be needing some treatment … in the next few weeks, or months,” she said.

Erin agreed she misled her lunch guests, who had all showed “a lot of compassion” for the health issue she had told them about.

She told the court that in reality, she was making plans to have gastric bypass surgery in a bid to take control over concerns she had about her weight.

“I was ashamed of the fact that I didn’t have control over my body or what I ate, I was ashamed of that … I didn’t want to tell anybody, but I shouldn’t have lied to them,” she said, sniffing.

“Primarily in my mind was thinking I might need help getting the kids to and from the bus and other activities, might need to explain why I’m going up to hospital for a day or two … so that was really the focus of what I was talking about.”

Frequent diarrhoea and a visit to hospital

After her guests left the lunch, Patterson said she ate several pieces of a cake Gail Patterson had brought to the lunch.

After eating the cake, Patterson said: “I felt sick, I felt overfull, so I went to the toilets and brought it back up again.”

On Tuesday, the court heard she had struggled with binge eating and bulimia throughout her life.

She said later that night she remembered feeling “really nauseous” and had diarrhoea.

“It felt pretty frequent to me, every 20 minutes at some times, maybe further apart at other times,” she said.

The following day Patterson said she drove her son to Tyabb for a flying lesson and had to pull over near some bushland to go to the toilet.

“I went off into the bush and went to the toilet … I had diarrhoea,” she said.

“I cleaned myself up a bit with tissues and put them in a dog poo bag … and we hit the road again.”

In a police interview previously shown to the jury, Patterson’s son said she did not stop to use the toilet during that trip.

She then detailed a visit to the hospital the following day because she believed she might need some fluids to assist with the diarrhoea she was experiencing.

“Every time I drank water it went straight through me, couldn’t seem to retain it, so I thought … I should go in, for a little bit,” she said.

– ABC

From 2h ago 08.10 BST Recap Here’s a recap of what the jury heard today: 1. Patterson said her estranged husband, Simon, accused her of trying to poison his parents using a dehydrator the days after the lethal lunch. Patterson says Simon asked, “Is that how you poisoned my parents … using that dehydrator?” 2. The accused said she believes there is a “possibility” she unintentionally added foraged mushrooms to her beef wellington mix while trying to improve its “bland” flavour. 3. Patterson says she lied to her lunch guests about requiring cancer treatment because she was “embarrassed” to tell them about plans for weight loss surgery. “I was ashamed of the fact that I didn’t have control over my body or what I ate,” she said. 4. Patterson said she ate the remainder of a cake brought by her mother-in-law, Gail, to the fateful lunch. She says after consuming the cake in the evening, she felt “over-full” and “brought it back up again”. 5. Patterson also admitted she lied to Gail about requiring a needle biopsy the month before the lunch. She said when she mentioned a lump in her arm, her in-laws showed a lot of care, which “felt really nice”. “I shouldn’t have done it,” she said. ‘Is that how you poisoned my parents?’: Erin Patterson tells mushroom trial husband confronted her over dehydrator Read more Share Updated at 09.00 BST

3h ago 07.15 BST Court adjourns Mandy says the defence does not have long to go. He says he will finish questioning his client in the morning. The court has adjourned for the day. The trial will resume at 10.30am tomorrow. Share Updated at 07.18 BST

3h ago 07.06 BST Patterson fights back tears describing her son and father-in-law’s relationship as ‘very close’ Mandy asks Patterson about her children’s relationship with their grandparents, Don and Gail. “They were very close. Especially [my son] and Don. They were like two minds separated by 50 years,” she says. Patterson’s voice is trembling, and she fights back tears. “[My son] just loved him.” Share Updated at 07.12 BST

3h ago 06.59 BST Patterson says she had ‘really good’ relationship with her in-laws in 2022 Mandy asks Patterson about her relationship with her in-laws, who died after the beef wellington lunch. She asks his client about evidence Simon gave that she sent an “inflammatory” message in a group chat with his parents in 2023. Simon said this was in reference to him raising that their son was always tired when he stayed with him, the court hears. She says Simon suggested their son was tired because of her “poor parenting” and she was “hurt” by that. Patterson says she understood she sent the message to Simon and not in a group chat. Mandy shows the court messages between Patterson and her in-laws from 2022, including discussions about Don tutoring her son. She agrees this tone was indicative of how she spoke to her in-laws at the time. Patterson says she had a “really good” relationship with Don and Gail in 2022. Share Updated at 07.07 BST

3h ago 06.34 BST Erin Patterson tells court she was ‘baffled’ Nokia phone still in house after police search Patterson says when she returned home after being interviewed by police she found the Nokia phone and phone A on the windowsill. She says she took the sim card out of phone A and put it into the Nokia so she could use the phone. Patterson says she was “baffled” the Nokia was still in the house. Share Updated at 06.50 BST

4h ago 06.33 BST Patterson tells court Samsung phone police say is missing was on windowsill during search of her home Patterson says when police arrived to conduct a search of her Leonagtha home on 5 August 2023, a mobile phone referred to as “phone A” was on a windowsill near a charging station. The court previously heard from the lead detective on the case that there were three phones – two Samsungs and a Nokia – connected to Patterson. Det Leading Sen Const Stephen Eppingstall, the officer in charge of the investigation, said one of the Samsungs (phone A) had never been recovered. Patterson says she handed police phone B – the phone she had been using at the time. Mandy shows his client a photo, taken by police during the search, which shows a black case on a windowsill. Patterson says the photo shows “a black phone case with phone A inside.” During his cross-examination, Eppingstall said whether the photo showed phone A was a matter for the jury. Share Updated at 06.51 BST

4h ago 06.23 BST Erin Patterson tells court she performed three of four factory resets of one of her phones Mandy takes Patterson to a digital report, previously shown to the jury, which shows that four factory resets were performed on one of her phones. The court previously heard four resets – one in February 2023 and three in August 2023 – were performed on the phone Patterson provided to police during a search on 5 August 2023. Mandy asks Patterson if she is responsible for the factory resets. “I’m responsible for the last three,” she says. Paterson says her son did the first reset after he damaged his phone. The second factory reset, on 2 August 2023, was to remove her son’s information from the phone. She says the factory reset on 5 August 2023 was because she “panicked” and didn’t want detectives to see photos in the Google app of mushrooms and the dehydrator. Regarding the factory reset on 6 August 2023, Patterson says after the police search, she wondered if she could login to her Google account and see where the seized devices were. She says she also wondered if police were “silly enough to leave it connected to the internet”. “I hit factory reset to see what happened,” she says. Share Updated at 06.50 BST

4h ago 06.08 BST Erin Patterson says text messages from health department investigator made her ‘very anxious’ The court is shown text messages between Patterson and Sally Ann Atkinson, who was involved in the Department of Health’s investigation into the deadly lunch. Patterson says Atkinson’s messages and questions about the ingredients in the lunch made her feel “very anxious”. In the messages, Atkinson asks Patterson to provide a description of what the package containing the dried mushrooms looked like. She says by the Tuesday after the lunch she started to think that “perhaps they [foraged mushrooms] were in there too”. Share Updated at 06.16 BST

4h ago 06.00 BST Erin Patterson says she felt ‘frantic’ and ‘scared’ she would be blamed before dumping dehydrator at tip Patterson says when she was discharged from hospital and returned home, she felt “frantic”. “Child protection was coming to my house that afternoon, and I was scared of the conversation that might flow about the meal and the dehydrator,” she says. Patterson says she worried she would be blamed and went to dump the dehydrator at a local tip. The jury has previously been shown CCTV footage of Patterson dumping the dehydrator at the Koonwarra Transfer Station And Landfill on 2 August 2023 – four days after the lunch. Share Updated at 06.11 BST

4h ago 05.57 BST Erin Patterson says husband asked ‘is that how you poisoned my parents … using that dehydrator?’ Patterson recalls discussions she had with Simon while she was at Monash medical centre. The court previously heard that while in hospital, Patterson told him she conducted a blind taste test with muffins cooked using dehydrated mushrooms. Patterson says Simon later asked: “He said to me, ‘Is that how you poisoned my parents … using that dehydrator?’” Mandy asks what her response was. “I said, of course not,” Patterson says, her voice trembling. Patterson says the comment by Simon caused her to “reflect a lot on what might have happened”. “It got me thinking about all the times I had used it [the dehydrator] … and how I had dried foraging mushrooms in it weeks earlier, and I was starting to think what if they had gone in the container with the Chinese mushrooms. What if that happened?”

“I was thinking maybe that’s how this all …,” Patterson says as her voice trails off. Mandy asks how this made her feel. “Scared, responsible,” she says. She says she felt “really worried” because child protection was involved. “Simon seemed to be of the mind that this was intentional … I just got really scared.” Share Updated at 06.06 BST

4h ago 05.45 BST Erin Patterson says she asked doctor why ‘people think that it’s death cap mushrooms’ Patterson recalls wanting to pick up her children from the hospital when staff mentioned they needed to be tested. “I was their mother and they’re my children and I wanted to be responsible for them,” she says The court previously heard Simon picked up the couple’s children and drove them to Monash medical centre. Patterson says she told Simon that she wanted her children to be at the same hospital where she would be transferred. Patterson says in a discussion with a doctor, she asked, “Why do people think that it’s death cap mushrooms?” She says she was administered fluid saline and NAC – a liver function medication – at Leongatha hospital. On route to Monash medical centre in an ambulance, Patterson says she was given anti-nausea medication and fentanyl for a headache. She says the fentanyl made her feel “loopy” but helped the pain. Share Updated at 05.53 BST

4h ago 05.38 BST Erin Patterson says she told police leftovers were in a bin but she couldn’t remember which one Mandy asks Patterson about a phone conversation with police, facilitated by Webster, about where the leftovers from the meal were. She says she spoke directly to police at one point and told them the gate code to the property. She said she told police the beef wellington leftovers were in a bin, but could not remember if it was an outside bin or a kitchen bin. Patterson says Simon’s brother, Matthew, called her that morning and said someone from toxicology wanted to know where the mushrooms in the meal were sourced from. “I told him they came from Woolies and the grocer, the Asian grocer,” she says. Patterson says she may have mentioned Oakleigh as a suburb where the grocer was.

She says she was trying to convey that she didn’t remember but was mentioning “possible places” where she shopped. Share Updated at 05.48 BST

5h ago 05.26 BST Erin Patterson agrees she told hospital she would return in 20-30 minutes and that records indicate she took longer Mandy takes Patterson to when she left Leongatha hospital and went home. Patterson agrees she told medical staff she would return in 20-30 minutes and that her medical records indicate she returned after about an hour and a half. She recalls some of what she did: “I lay down for a little bit. I went to the toilet a couple of times.” Patterson says she did not leave the house during this time. She says she brought a phone charger, a toothbrush and toothpaste to the hospital, and staff told her she needed to be transferred to Melbourne. Recalling the urgent care area, Patterson says she got into the bed in the cubicle and waited to be assessed. She says the topic of her children and whether they had eaten the beef wellington came up in the conversation with Webster. “I would have told him not on the Saturday but on the Sunday they had the leftovers,” she says. Share Updated at 05.34 BST

5h ago 05.23 BST The jury has returned to the court room in Morwell. Share

6h ago 04.27 BST The court has adjourned for a lunch break. Patterson’s trial will resume from 2.15pm. Share

6h ago 04.25 BST Erin Patterson says she tried to argue against being transferred to Melbourne for treatment Mandy asks his client about what occurred next. Patterson says she was told she needed to be transferred to Melbourne for treatment. She says she had a water bottle, bag and a warm jumper with her at the hospital. She recalls trying to explain to medical staff why she could not go straight to Melbourne. She says she needed to make preparations for her daughter’s ballet and secure her pets at her house. Patterson says she could not move her brain away from what she thought “the day was going to look like”. She compares it to trying to “turn a really, really big ship”. Patterson says she lived about 10 mins away from Leongatha hospital and told staff she could return quickly. Share Updated at 04.33 BST

6h ago 04.19 BST Patterson tells court she was ‘shocked and confused’ when told of death cap mushroom fears Patterson was asked about the ingredients used in the beef wellington lunch. Webster expressed concern the lunch contained death cap mushrooms. Patterson says she was “shocked and confused”. “I didn’t see how death cap mushrooms could be in the meal,” she says. Share Updated at 06.53 BST

Erin Patterson, the Australian lady accused of fatally poisoning three relatives with a mushroom-laced beef Wellington, is under trial at the Latrobe Valley Law Courts in Victoria, Australia. While prosecutors create a case focused on intent and preparedness, the jury must carefully separate preoccupation from criminal intent. Her case is now attracting worldwide interest.

Patterson, 50, entered a not guilty plea to three counts of murder and one of attempted murder during a lunch she hosted in July 2023 at her Leongatha residence. The guests — her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66 — died in hospital within days of the meal. After weeks in intensive care, Baptist minister Ian Wilkinson, the fourth guest, survived.

Mushroom Mystery

The central question in the lawsuit is whether Patterson purposefully served death cap mushrooms to family members or if this was a sad accident resulting from culinary incompetence and a lifetime love of fungus.

Patterson testified in court the deadly dish included store-bought kinds as well as mushrooms she foraged, dried, and kept. She claimed she routinely bought dried mushroom mixes from Asian grocers, sometimes with unclear labelling and would even store them in one jar.

Death cap mushrooms look like ordinary mushrooms

‘They weren’t specific about the type,’ she testified, saying she often cooked with shiitake, enoki, and porcini mushrooms. She also confessed to foraging in nearby gardens and trails, but denied knowing the poisonous nature of what she collected. In her statement, she admitted to using ‘exotic’ mushrooms because they have more flavour.

Prosecutors dispute Patterson’s claims. They told the court she had visited websites mentioning local occurrences of the deadly Amanita phalloides, sometimes known as the death cap mushroom, and her mobile data placed her in known fungus-rich areas weeks before the meal. The prosecution also showed a mushroom dehydrator that Patterson owned which she regularly posted on Facebook.

Suspicion was further aroused by the court learning that Patterson made each beef Wellington separately but did not eat from the same batch. Ian Wilkinson, the surviving guest, said she ate something different and served all the meals herself. Additional information showed she had previously complained about her husband and in-laws on internet forums; one witness related posts she described as ‘controlling’ and ‘coercive.’

Simon Patterson, her estranged husband, was invited to the dinner but withdrew the evening before. Prosecutors claimed she may have enticed her family under the false pretense of a cancer diagnosis, a detail particularly disturbing because she now confesses she is not sick of the deadly disease.

Jury’s difficult duty

The evidence is considerable even though it is circumstantial. Although the hobby of foraging for mushrooms is not illegal, the jury has to consider if Patterson’s acts, taken along with her knowledge, behavior, and digital trail, constitute planned murder.

Her defence contends the episode was an awful combination of culinary misjudgement, mislabelled materials, and terrible happenstance. Her lawyer said, ‘She didn’t intend to cause anyone any harm,’ therefore characterizing her as a woman who has battled body image issues, loneliness, and mistrust of doctors.

Erin Patterson’s fate now rests in the hands of a jury charged with sorting out a very convoluted story as the trial progresses. Was this only the tragic error of a cook, or the painstaking preparation of a killer hidden under her apron?

The hearing picks again up on Wednesday when Patterson is scheduled to return to the witness stand.

Almost two years after it was alleged Erin Patterson fed poisoned beef wellingtons to her estranged husband’s family, a trial is underway in a small regional town.

Amid intense interest in the case, dozens of documentary-makers, journalists, podcast creators and true crime novelists have descended on Morwell, Gippsland, about 150km southeast of Melbourne.

Fifteen jurors — 10 men and five women — were selected on 29 April, with 12 of them to decide Patterson’s fate through a unanimous verdict at the end of the trial.

Patterson is accused of serving a poisoned lunch to guests at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023, Justice Christopher Beale told the jury before the selection began.

Her husband, Simon Patterson, did not attend the lunch, but his parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt and uncle, Heather and Ian Wilkinson, did attend, he said.

Her former in-laws and Ms Wilkinson died in hospital after the lunch.

READ MORE: Two days after the mushroom lunch, Erin Patterson’s husband asked her a very direct question.

It’s alleged the meal was laced with deadly death cap mushrooms.

Patterson is charged with the murder of Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, along with the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson. She has plead not guilty to all offences against her.

This is everything we know about the case and the trial.