Erin Patterson’s estranged husband told her he was ‘too uncomfortable’ to attend mushroom lunch, murder trial hears
Jurors are now being shown text messages between Simon and Erin on the evening of 28 July – the night before the lunch.
Simon texted Erin at 6:54pm saying:
Sorry, I feel too uncomfortable about coming to the lunch with you, mum, dad, Heather and Ian tomorrow, but am happy to talk about your health and implications of that at another time if you’d like to discuss on the phone. Just let me know.
Patterson then replies at 6:59pm:
That’s really disappointing. I’ve spent many hours this week preparing lunch or tomorrow which has been exhausting in light of the issues I’m facing and spent a small fortune on beef eye fillet to make beef wellingtons because I wanted it to be a special meal as I may not be able to host a lunch like this again for some time. It’s important to me that you’re all there tomorrow and that I have the conversations that I need to have. I hope you’ll change your mind. Your parents and Heather and Ian are coming at 12:30. I hope to see you there.
Simon says Erin’s text messages did not change his mind and he told his parents he would not be attending the lunch.
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Simon texted Erin at 6:54pm saying:
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Sorry, I feel too uncomfortable about coming to the lunch with you, mum, dad, Heather and Ian tomorrow, but am happy to talk about your health and implications of that at another time if you’d like to discuss on the phone. Just let me know.
\n
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Patterson then replies at 6:59pm:
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That’s really disappointing. I’ve spent many hours this week preparing lunch or tomorrow which has been exhausting in light of the issues I’m facing and spent a small fortune on beef eye fillet to make beef wellingtons because I wanted it to be a special meal as I may not be able to host a lunch like this again for some time. It’s important to me that you’re all there tomorrow and that I have the conversations that I need to have. I hope you’ll change your mind. Your parents and Heather and Ian are coming at 12:30. I hope to see you there.
\n
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Simon says Erin’s text messages did not change his mind and he told his parents he would not be attending the lunch.
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Here is a map showing the key locations in the alleged triple murder:
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Leongatha, where Erin Patterson lived, is where the fatal lunch occurred in July 2023, the court has been told.
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Erin Patterson had invited Simon Patterson’s family to lunch during a service at the Korumburra baptist church, where Ian Wilkinson was the pastor, on 16 July 2023.
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Simon Patterson describes Erin Patterson as “very intelligent”:
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I guess some of the things that attracted me to her in the first place was definitely her intelligence. She’s quite witty and can be quite funny.
\n
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He says during the pair’s marriage, she performed home duties and also undertook studies including legal and science courses.
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Nanette Rogers asks if it was rare for Patterson to invite guests over to the family home.
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Simon replies:
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Very rare
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He says that after the pair’s separation wider family gatherings involving his siblings and parents were not held.
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up photo of Simon Patterson as he arrives to the Latrobe Valley magistrates court”,”caption”:”Simon Patterson arrives to the Latrobe Valley magistrates court in Morwell, Victoria, Thursday, 1 May 2025.”,”credit”:”Photograph: James Ross/AAP”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1746062548000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”02.22 BST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1746065823000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”03.17 BST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1746062561000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”02.22 BST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”02.22″,”title”:”Estranged husband gives evidence”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Thu 1 May 2025 04.05 BST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Thu 1 May 2025 01.03 BST”},{“id”:”6812b38f8f08d453599ac3d0″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Here’s a recap of what we heard on day two of Erin Patterson’s trial.
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The prosecution has told jurors that Patterson had invited her estranged husband, Simon, and his relatives to her house in July 2023 to discuss “medical issues” she had and how to break the news to her two children.
Nanette Rogers SC, the prosecutor, said Patterson had told them she had cancer, but the prosecution allege she did not have cancer, and concocted the story about medical issues to ensure that the children were not present for the lunch.
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The defence told the court it was not in dispute that Patterson had never been diagnosed with cancer. Patterson’s lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, also said she had lied to police about never foraging for mushrooms but denied ever having deliberately sought out death cap mushrooms.
\n The defence’s case is that the three deaths were a tragedy and a terrible accident. Mandy said the main issue in the case was that Patterson did not deliberately serve poisoned food to her guests.
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Hello and welcome to Guardian Australia’s live coverage of the Erin Patterson trial, which is expected to restart at 10.30am this morning.
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Patterson is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson by feeding them a beef wellington dish allegedly laced with death cap mushrooms in July 2023. The lunch took place in the regional Victorian town of Leongatha, in Australia’s south-east.
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Patterson is also accused of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, who recovered from the lunch after becoming ill.
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She has pleaded not guilty to murdering or attempting to murder the relatives of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson.
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The trial is expected to run for five to six weeks. The supreme court trial is being held in Morwell in Victoria’s Gippsland region.
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Key events
On the morning of 31 July, Erin calls Simon and asks to speak, the court hears.
Simon says he tells Erin he has only had a couple of hours sleep and requests to speak later.
Patterson was “indignant” with his response, Simon says.
“She said, somewhat sarcastically, I’ll sort out my own problems,” he says.
She says she has frequent diarrhoea, about every 20 minutes, and she thought she should go to hospital.
She was worried she may have an accident if she drove herself to the hospital due to the duration of the car trip, Simon says. Erin requested Simon drive her to the hospital.
“I said no I won’t, I suggested she get an ambulance,” he says.
“I suggested she should go to hospital.”
