Mystery illnesses and family suspicions: what jury in poisoning trial was not told

The estranged husband of a woman in Australia convicted of murdering three people by feeding them deadly mushrooms had told family members before the fatal lunch that he suspected she had been trying to poison him, according to evidence heard in a pre-trial hearing.

- Nino Bucci Adeshola Ore

One argument heard in court, but not revealed to the jury in Erin Patterson's triple murder trial, involved police suspicions that she may have previously used rat poison in an alleged attempt to kill Simon Patterson.

On 7 July, Erin Patterson was found guilty of murdering Simon's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, and guilty of attempting to murder Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson. The trial had gripped Australia for weeks.

An interim suppression order prohibiting Australian media from reporting on any evidentiary rulings made in pre-trial hearings and during the trial was lifted yesterday, after a coalition of media organisations, including the Guardian, successfully challenged the order.

The lifting of the order, which was imposed after the guilty verdicts by the supreme court trial's judge, Justice Christopher Beale, means material jurors were not allowed to hear can now be made public.

Some of the evidence that did not make it from the pre-trial hearings to the trial related to separate charges alleging that Patterson had attempted to murder Simon, which were later dropped. Reporting on inadmissible evidence is not permitted until after the jury has reached a verdict.

The prosecution sought to have three charges of attempted murder against Erin Patterson, involving Simon in 2021 and 2022, heard at the same time as three charges of murder and a charge of attempted murder relating to the 29 July 2023 beef wellington lunch Patterson served at her home at Leongatha, in Australia.