Erin Patterson, an Australian woman accused of murdering three of her estranged husband's elderly relatives by poisoning their food, used four large identical grey plates for her guests but a smaller, tan coloured one for herself, prosecutors claimed on Wednesday.
On 29 July 2023, Ms Patterson, 50, hosted a lunch at her home in Leongatha, a small rural town in Victoria about 136km (85 miles) southeast of Melbourne. She invited her former in-laws, Donald and Gail Patterson, both 70, along with Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, and Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, 68.
In the days that followed, all four guests fell ill after the lunch of beef Wellington, mashed potatoes and green beans, the court was told, with symptoms later confirmed to be caused by death cap mushroom poisoning. Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson died on 4 August, Don Patterson the next day, while Ian Wilkinson survived after being critically ill.
Ms Patterson is charged with the murders of Gail and Donald Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, along with the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson. Ms Patterson denies the charges.
The prosecution, led by senior counsel Nanette Rogers, told the jury on Wednesday: “Donald, Gail, Ian and Heather each ate from the large, grey-coloured dinner plate, the accused ate from the smaller plate.”
Guests later questioned why she used a different plate. When Ms Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon, arrived at his aunt and uncle’s house on 30 July 2025, Heather Wilkinson allegedly mentioned the unusual plate choice.
“I noticed Erin put her food on a different plate to us. It had colours on it, I wondered why that was,” Dr Rogers told the jury, referring to the conversation Heather Wilkinson had with Simon.
Later, while heading to the hospital, Heather Wilkinson again questioned Simon about Ms Patterson’s choice of plates, Dr Rogers said. “Is Erin short of crockery? I was wondering why she served herself on a different plate,” Heather said, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Ms Rogers told the jury Simon responded that Ms Patterson “didn’t have a lot of plates and might have run out”.
Ms Rogers said that despite Ms Patterson and Simon separating in 2015, they remained “friendly, amicable and affable” while continuing to co-parent.
“Simon remained hopeful that he and the accused would reconcile,” she said.
Ms Rogers told the court that Simon first observed a “change” in Ms Patterson’s behaviour in 2022, after he submitted a tax return noting their separation.
“Their communication started to decline,” she said.
Finally, Rogers said the Crown case is that Erin Patterson lied about having bought mushrooms at the Asian shop and also “disposed of the dehydrator to try and cover up what she had done.”
— Lucie Morris-Marr (@luciemorrismarr) April 30, 2025
On Wednesday, the jury also heard that Ms Patterson told hospital staff her two children ate leftovers from the same meal but weren’t sick because she had scraped off the mushrooms, claiming they were picky eaters.
“She said the children had eaten a portion but she had scraped off the mushrooms from the beef because they were fussy and did not like them,” the prosecutor said.
In the opening arguments, Ms Rogers said the accused had fabricated a cancer diagnosis and hosted the lunch on the pretence of discussing the best way to tell her two children about the illness, in order to ensure they did not attend.
“She wanted it to be a special lunch,” Ms Rogers said, quoting a message Ms Patterson sent to her estranged husband Simon, who declined the invitation. “Erin told us she had tests … they’d found ovarian cancer. She would probably need surgery and chemo and wasn’t sure how to tell the kids,” Simon told the police his father had informed him while in hospital.
Ms Rogers told the court that police had examined Ms Patterson’s medical records and found no evidence that she had ever been diagnosed with cancer. “It is the prosecution case that she had not been diagnosed with cancer,” she said.
“It is the prosecution case, the accused used the false claim of cancer to ensure and explain why the children would not be present at that lunch on July 29.”
Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson deliberately served them death cap mushrooms, which she may have sourced from locations previously flagged for sightings online, while eating a separate portion herself on a different coloured plate. The accused went to hospital two days later, where she initially discharged herself against medical advice, the court was told. She had mild symptoms of illness, but further tests revealed no evidence of toxins consistent with death cap poisoning, the prosecution said.
Defending Ms Patterson, barrister Colin Mandy told the court the deaths were a "terrible accident", and that the accused had no intention of killing her lunch guests. "The defence case is that Erin Patterson did not deliberately serve poisoned food to her guests," he said.
The defendant denied ever owning a food dehydrator, but police traced one owned by her to a nearby garbage dump, that was later found to contain death cap mushrooms, Ms Rogers said – one of the world's deadliest strains of mushrooms. Mr Mandy said his client had lied repeatedly during the investigation, but had "panicked" due to the intense scrutiny surrounding the case.
Ms Patterson married Simon in 2007 and had two children together, the court heard. They separated temporarily several times, before splitting permanently in 2015. They remained amicable, sharing custody of the children and going on family holidays together.
The trial has seen intense interest from local 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 heard. The court is expected to hear the first of dozens of witnesses and scientific experts on Thursday. The trial, scheduled to run until early June, continues.
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