Erin Patterson mushroom murder case : Police alleged that Erin Patterson had previously attempted to poison her husband, Simon Patterson, using toxic food items including penne pasta, chicken korma curry, and a vegetable wrap—incidents that occurred prior to a lunch where she served a beef Wellington laced with deadly death cap mushrooms.
Patterson pleaded not guilty to the charges and had also planned to plead not guilty to separate allegations dating back to 2021 and 2022.
In a verdict delivered last month, she was found guilty of murdering Simon Patterson’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson. She was also convicted of the attempted murder of Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson—all of whom became critically ill after attending a lunch at her home on July 29, 2023.
During the lengthy trial, the jury was not informed of the earlier alleged poisonings involving Simon Patterson, who claimed he had been hospitalized as a result.
These previously suppressed details have now been made public following the lifting of a suppression order by the Supreme Court of Victoria on Friday.
While the court did not confirm the source of the alleged poisonings, prosecutors presented evidence from a medical expert who said Simon’s symptoms, on one occasion, were consistent with ingesting rat poison.
Patterson had been preparing to contest the charges related to Simon in a second criminal trial following the beef Wellington murder trial. However, that trial never proceeded, as the attempted murder charges were dropped by prosecutors in April 2025, just before the first trial commenced.
Prosecutors offered no explanation in court for why those charges were withdrawn.
In earlier hearings, Simon testified that he had long suspected his wife of trying to poison him—well before his parents and relatives attended the deadly lunch in July 2023.
The police brief included claims from Simon Patterson that Erin Patterson had attempted to poison him between November 16 and 17, 2021, by giving him penne bolognese in a Tupperware container. He said she gave him the meal the night before they were due to leave for a camping trip to Wilsons Promontory.
She told me she’d made pasta for all of us and planned to feed it to the kids that evening when she handed it to me,” Simon recalled during a pre-trial hearing in October 2024.
At that time, the couple were living apart, and Simon testified that he took the food back to his own residence.
I can’t remember whether it was a message or a phone call, but she encouraged me to have dinner and not leave it too late,” he said in court.
Simon reported that he later experienced severe vomiting and diarrhoea, resulting in an overnight stay at the hospital.
Coma followed chicken curry on camping trip, court heard
Simon Patterson testified that he fell ill again with similar symptoms during another camping trip with his estranged wife, this time in Howqua, located in Victoria’s High Country, between May 25 and 27, 2022.
We had chicken korma curry on the second night,” he recalled. “While Erin was cooking, I was busy setting up the fire, so I didn’t see her prepare the food.
Simon said he sought medical attention at Mansfield Hospital but was discharged later that same day. However, his condition reportedly worsened over the following days after he returned home.
He testified that he eventually slipped into a coma and underwent life-saving surgery at Monash Hospital in Melbourne.
They ran numerous tests but couldn’t determine what had caused it,” Simon told the court in October 2024. “However, they were able to treat the symptoms well enough that doctors believed I had a strong chance of making a full recovery.
Simon said he spent several weeks in rehabilitation and later continued his recovery at Erin’s home, where he was staying with her and their children.
During this period, Simon claimed Erin grew increasingly distant and cold toward him.
It became clear she didn’t want me there,” he said. “One morning, she came into my room while I was still in bed and told me she was very upset—that I spent too much time in bed, didn’t help around the house as she wanted, and never got up early to take the kids to school.
Husband suffered slurred speech after eating vegetable wrap, court told
Simon Patterson testified that he became seriously ill once again on September 6, 2022, after returning to Wilsons Promontory with his wife, Erin.
Erin told me she would bring food for the trip,” he said. “She brought ingredients to make a curry and prepared a vegetable wrap for me. I believe she ate some of the same items, but not in wrap form.
He added, “I clearly remember the wrap—it was wrapped in aluminium foil, and I can vividly picture its contents, as well as the unwrapped ingredients on her plate.
After consuming the meal, Simon said he suddenly felt the urgent need to use the toilet before passing out. He was subsequently hospitalized, experiencing slurred speech and what may have been seizures.
Later that year, Simon confided in Dr. Christopher Ford, sharing his suspicions that Erin might be trying to poison him.
Dr. Ford was very thoughtful,” Simon recalled. “He told me, ‘I suggest you don’t tell too many people about that.’
Around that time, Simon removed Erin as his medical power of attorney and began documenting everything he ate in a spreadsheet, according to court testimony.
Simon said he never believed anyone else was in danger, and that he thought he was Erin’s sole target. Because of this, he didn’t warn his parents before they accepted an invitation to lunch at Erin’s home in Leongatha on July 29, 2023.
Simon withdrew from attending the lunch at the last minute, sending Erin a cancellation message the night before.
I genuinely feared she might poison me if I went,” he told the court during a 2024 pre-trial hearing.
In the days following the lunch—while his parents and other guests were gravely ill—several of Simon’s relatives testified that he called a meeting at the chapel in Austin Hospital.
He told us that his own illnesses hadn’t been accidents,” said cousin Ruth Dubois. “He admitted he had stopped eating Erin’s food because he suspected she was tampering with it.
He was deeply sorry he hadn’t warned our parents or the rest of the family.
During pre-trial proceedings, Simon also stated that despite multiple hospitalizations, the exact cause of his repeated illnesses was never medically confirmed.
Rat poison’ article found on Erin Patterson’s computer, court heard
During the pre-trial hearing, Erin Patterson’s defense lawyer told the court that a medical expert who had reviewed Simon Patterson’s records from his third illness concluded that his symptoms were consistent with low potassium levels.
However, Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rogers revealed that an article about barium carbonate—a known rat poison—was discovered on Erin Patterson’s computer around the time Simon fell ill in September 2022. Dr. Rogers added that the prosecution had commissioned a second opinion from the same medical expert, who stated that Simon’s symptoms were also consistent with barium carbonate poisoning.
Prosecutors originally intended the trial in Morwell to cover seven charges: three murder charges and one attempted murder linked to the beef Wellington lunch, along with three additional charges relating to the alleged poisoning attempts on Simon.
However, ahead of the trial, Justice Christopher Beale ruled that the charges related to Simon Patterson would be severed”—handled separately from the main trial. The Office of Public Prosecutions challenged this ruling in the Court of Appeal, but the decision was upheld.
During the appeal, Simon’s lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, argued that hearing both sets of charges in a single trial would result in “unfair prejudice” against his client. Justice Phillip Priest appeared to agree, noting:
One could say that the evidence in the lunch-related charges seems stronger than the evidence in the Simon-related charges. It’s a short leap from there to convicting on the remaining three.
As a result of this severance—and the eventual dropping of the Simon-related charges—the jury in the beef Wellington trial was not informed about Simon’s prior illnesses, the suspicions he had voiced, or the chapel meeting he called after the fatal lunch.
Following Erin Patterson’s arrest in November 2023, police also charged her with one count of attempted murder in connection with Simon Patterson on July 29, 2023—the date of the fatal lunch. Although Simon did not attend, police alleged that Erin had intended to poison his portion of the meal with death cap mushrooms. This charge, too, was dropped after the case was taken over by the Office of Public Prosecutions.
On May 1, while the jury was not present in court, Simon Patterson reflected on the dropped charges while testifying from the witness box.
This legal process has been extremely difficult,” he said. “Especially the way it’s unfolded regarding the charges about me and my evidence—or now, the lack of it. I have a lot to grieve and I am grieving… as you might imagine.
He continued, “All the hearings, the discussions that led up to this moment where I’m sitting here, half-thinking about the things I’m not allowed to talk about—I still don’t really understand why. It feels bizarre to me… but it is what it is.
Leave a Reply