It’s the case that just keeps on giving: with Erin “Mushroom Lady” Patterson convicted as a triple murderer, all manner of stuff that was suppressed during her trial is coming to light. Largely thanks to, unbelievably, her plea for leniency.
Mushroom cook killer Erin Patterson will make her plea for leniency to a Supreme Court judge later this month.
Justice Christopher Beale said at a hearing on Friday – Patterson’s first since her conviction – the pre-sentence hearing will run over two days on August 25 and August 26 […]
Beale also ruled at the hearing to release, for the first time, critical evidence used to prosecute Patterson but kept secret until now.
And, hooley-dooley, are there some jaw droppers.
As was revealed before the trial, Patterson’s ex-husband Simon had previously suspected he was the victim of her poisoning attempts, after he fell seriously ill after previously eating a dinner she had cooked for him. Attempted murder charges in relation to that incident were dropped in pre-trial hearings, with the prosecution focussing on the fatal lunch that killed three of her other relatives. Those charges were planned to be heard in a different trial.
What the newly released evidence shows, though, is just how extensive and shocking her activities really were. And how deeply she was already suspected before the fatal lunch.
Mr Patterson was so suspicious of his murderous wife’s behaviour that he later kept a spreadsheet of several serious health events in 2021 and 2022 which included near-death experiences where he was paralysed and lost a large part of his bowel.
After eating a special wrap made by his wife, he was paralysed, his tongue, neck and lips his only moving parts.
The common dominator before falling ill was that Erin Patterson had cooked and prepared meals for him, according to evidence given to police by her estranged husband […]
Simon Patterson discussed his concerns with his doctor, Chris Ford, in February 2023, five months before the death cap lunch, wondering whether Erin Patterson had tried to kill him with radiator antifreeze in cookies she had baked for him […]
There were several reasons advanced for his illnesses relating to gastrointestinal issues and no poison was found by his doctors, although questions were raised in the Court of Appeal about the possibility of rat poisoning having been used in one of the incidents.
Not surprisingly, then, Simon Patterson declined his ex-wife’s lunch invitation in July, 2023. He had also spoken of his concerns with his now-murdered father, and well as his brother and a cousin.
The motive advanced for her murders and attempted murders was coercive control. Erin Patterson’s allegedly controlling streak was evidenced in her relationship with her estranged husband.
Simon fell gravely ill in 2021 and 2022, the pre-trial proceedings heard, after being served multiple meals by his estranged wife, including during or before planned trips to Wilson’s Promontory and Howqua, in Victoria’s High Country.
It also heard that Patterson had helped nurse Simon back to health at one stage, helping co-ordinate his recovery, and had played a role in deciding whether surgery should go ahead.
It was all so suspicious that Simon started keeping intricate records.
In the months preceding the July 29, 2023, lunch that killed his parents Don and Gail, both 70, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, 66, Simon said he wondered whether his wife was trying to kill him, using the spreadsheet to establish common dominators […]
Simon was so concerned that he changed his end-of-life care plans to include his father and brother rather than his wife.
Not unsurprisingly, as soon as relatives started dropping like flies after lunch with Erin, both Simon and his doctor immediately raised the alarm.
As soon as the lunch attendees fell ill in July, 2023, Simon started telling his relatives that he believed Patterson had poisoned his parents and aunt and uncle.
Pastor Ian Wilkinson’s daughter Ruth Dubois said she had become aware of the allegations while at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne as both her parents were fighting for life […]
On the morning the elderly people were rushed to hospital, doctor Chris Ford also alerted colleagues that it was possible the death cap mushroom poisoning could have been deliberate.
And, after all that, prison authorities had her working in the prison kitchen?
