The husband of Erin Patterson, convicted of poisoning three people to death with deadly mushrooms, told an Australian court he suspected his wife had been trying to poison him more than a year before the fatal meal.
On Friday, a judge lifted a gag order on pretrial evidence Patterson, 50, had sought to keep confidential as she fights to overturn her triple murder convictions.
Among the revelations was testimony from Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon Patterson, who said he declined a lunch invitation out of fear she might poison him.
“I thought there’d be a risk that she’d poison me if I attended,” Simon told the court months before the trial – testimony that jurors never heard.
Though he stopped eating food prepared by his wife after their separation in 2015, Simon said he never suspected others could be in danger.
Erin Patterson was convicted last month by the Victoria Supreme Court of murdering her parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, at her home in Leongatha with a lunch of beef Wellington pastries containing toxic death cap mushrooms.
She was also found guilty of attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband, who survived the meal but spent weeks in the hospital.
Erin Patterson was initially charged with attempting to murder her husband by inviting him to the lunch in July 2023. He had accepted the invitation then canceled.
She was also initially charged with three counts of attempting to murder him on three occasions around Victoria between November 2021 and September 2022. She denied all charges.
Prosecutors dropped all charges relating to the husband before her trial began in April.
Simon Patterson testified before the trial that he suspected his wife had deliberately made him seriously ill with dishes including penne Bolognese pasta, chicken korma curry, and a vegetable curry wrap. No poisons were ever found.
The three alleged poisonings occurred during family camping trips. Simon shared his poisoning suspicions with his doctor, who encouraged him to create a spreadsheet listing what he had eaten around the times he became sick.
The court on Friday also released video of Erin Patterson’s police interview, recorded a week after the fatal lunch.
In the interview, Detective Stephen Eppingstall told her that both her female victims were dead and their husbands were critically ill. Eppingstall asked why she had invited them to lunch.
Erin Patterson replied that she wanted to maintain her relationship with the estranged husband’s parents because her own parents had died.
Don and Gail Patterson had remained supportive and had been the only grandparents to her two children, she said.
“I love them a lot. They’ve always been really good to me and they always said to me that they would support me with love and emotional support, even though Simon and I were separated, and I really appreciated that,” Erin Patterson said.
Justice Christopher Beale ruled for lawyers representing media who sought to overturn the gag order, ordering that the evidence jurors had not seen be made public.
Erin Patterson’s lawyers wanted all evidence not deemed admissible at her trial kept secret until an appeals court decides whether to overturn her convictions.
Their reasons included that media interest in the case was unprecedented. Defense lawyer Colin Mandy argued that reporting of the suppressed evidence, as well as references to it in books, podcasts, and a planned television miniseries, would “leave an indelible impression on the minds of potential jurors in the event that there is a retrial.”
A hearing will begin Aug. 25 to determine her sentence. She faces a potential life sentence for each murder and 25 years for attempted murder.
Prosecutor Jane Warren told Beale on Friday that “a lot” of victim impact statements would be presented at the two-day sentencing hearing.
Once Erin Patterson is sentenced, she will have 28 days to appeal the sentence, the convictions, or both.
Her lawyers say they will appeal her convictions.
