Accused details family rift at mushroom murder trial

The Australian woman accused of murdering three relatives with a poisoned beef wellington took the stand yesterday to give evidence about her fractured relationship with her estranged husband and his family.

- MAROOSHA MUZAFFAR

Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with deliberately serving death cap mushrooms to her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and Heather’s husband Ian during a 2023 lunch at her house in the township of Leongatha in Victoria. Ian Wilkinson was the only guest to survive.

She spoke of a rift with her separated husband and his family. “A bit more distance or space between us,” Ms Patterson said.

She had started to have “concerns” that her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, no longer wanted her involved with his family. “Perhaps I wasn’t being invited to so many things,” she said, describing their relationship at the time as “functional”.