A video of Erin Patterson’s interview with police has been shown during her triple murder trial, with the footage showing her telling detectives she did not own a food dehydrator, despite them having just found a manual for one in her house.
Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to poisoning her four lunch guests – relatives of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson – with a beef wellington served at her house in Leongatha on 29 July 2023.
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to murdering Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, Simon’s uncle and Heather’s husband.
Lawyers for Patterson say the death cap mushroom poisoning was a tragic and terrible accident.
On the afternoon of 5 August 2023, a week after the lunch, Patterson was interviewed at Wonthaggi police station.
Her house had been searched by police earlier that day.
During the 21-minute video shown to the jury, Det Leading Sen Const Stephen Eppingstall, the officer in charge of the investigation, asks Patterson a series of questions about the lunch, and items found during the search.
“We want to discuss the deaths of Heather Wilkinson and Gail Patterson today with you. When we were at the house earlier, we discussed you hadn’t really been kept in the loop, and it came as news to you that Heather and Gail had passed away,” Eppingstall said towards the start of the interview.
(July 29, 2023)
Erin Patterson hosts lunch for estranged husband Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt and uncle Heather and Ian Wilkinson. Patterson serves beef wellington.
(July 30, 2023)
All four lunch guests are admitted to hospital with gastro-like symptoms.
(August 4, 2023)
Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson die in hospital.
(August 5, 2023)
Don Patterson dies in hospital. Victoria police search Erin Patterson’s home and interview her.
(September 23, 2023)
Ian Wilkinson is discharged from hospital after weeks in intensive care.
(November 2, 2023)
Police again search Erin Patterson’s home, and she is arrested and interviewed. She is charged with three counts of murder relating to the deaths of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.
(April 28, 2025)
Jury is sworn in.
(April 29, 2025)
Murder trial begins. Jury hears that charges of attempting to murder her estranged husband Simon are dropped.
“We’re trying to understand what has made them so ill.”
Patterson responds, “mmm, yeah”.
Eppingstall said police were also “trying to understand why you’re not so ill”.
Patterson, who did not have a lawyer with her during the interview, but had been given a chance to contact one before it started, said: “I’ve never been in a situation like this before, and I’ve been very, very helpful with the health department.
“Because I do want to know what happened, and I’ve given as much information as they’ve asked for.”
Eppingstall said to Patterson that she had also been helpful to police while they searched her house.
Patterson went on to detail her closeness to Don and Gail, saying this was pronounced because her own parents and grandparents had died.
“Always been really good to me, and they always said to me they would support me, with love and emotional support, even though we’re [separated],” she said.
“They’re the only family that I’ve got, and they’re [the] only grandparents that my children have. And I want them to stay in my kids’ life … I think Simon hated that I still had a relationship with his parents, but I loved them.
“Nothing that he has ever done to me will ever change the fact they are good, decent people.”
Patterson appeared emotional in the dock while she watched the interview, which was played on a small screen to her left.
She also detailed a conversation she said she had with Dr Chris Webster when she went to hospital on the Monday after the lunch.
“He said to me we’ve got a concern they’ve eaten death cap mushrooms,” Patterson told police.
“And I said what, and he said yeah that’s what we’re concerned they’ve eaten.”
Eppingstall went on to ask Patterson about whether she owned a dehydrator, given police found a manual for one in her house.
She said she did not, but had manuals for lots of stuff, and “I just keep them all”.
Patterson went on to say that she may have previously owned one, as when she first got her Thermomix she was “excited about making everything from scratch”.
The court has previously heard Colin Mandy SC, for Patterson, tell the jury that his client lied to police when she said she never owned a dehydrator.
Mandy said the lie about the dehydrator needed to be considered in the context of how Patterson felt in the days after the lunch, as coming to terms with the fact she served “up a meal that had such tragic consequences” impacted on the way she behaved.
Eppingstall is about the 50th, and final, prosecution witness called in Patterson’s trial.
The court heard earlier on Tuesday that Patterson appeared surprised when told by homicide squad detectives during a search of her property that two of her lunch guests had died.
Det Sgt Luke Farrell gave evidence about executing a search warrant at her Leongatha property a week after the lunch.
Farrell told the court that about 11.40am on 5 August 2023 he was part of a team of four homicide squad officers who arrived at Patterson’s house.
It was his responsibility to conduct the search, with other officers tasked with taking photos and videos of the search, and logging any seized items.
The court heard that a transcript of a recording of Farrell speaking to Patterson at the start of the search indicated that he introduced himself and said police had a warrant.
He then said: “It’s in connection with the death of two people over the past couple of days.” Patterson responded: “Who died?”
Earlier in his evidence, Farrell said Patterson had “expressed surprise” when she learned that some of her guests had died.
“I don’t know what she was or wasn’t aware of, but she was told in my presence, and expressed she didn’t know beforehand,” Farrell said.
The court heard that Heather Wilkinson had died about 2.05am on 4 August and Gail Patterson about 5.55pm the same day.
Farrell also told the court police had not seized plates from Patterson’s house during the search, except for a plate with fruit on it which Heather brought to lunch, nor had they photographed every plate.
Police seized several electronic devices during the search, including a phone, a tablet and a computer.
Photographs taken by officers during the search and shown to the court included images of multiple plates and a RecipeTin Eats Dinner cookbook.
Farrell said one page of the book was marked but that he had also found a recipe for beef wellington “splattered with cooking” on a separate page.
A video was also played to the jury showing Farrell sitting with Patterson at her kitchen table and explaining that the search had been completed but he would need to seize her phone.
She handed it over and said it may require a pin.
“It’s either 1315 or 131528, I can’t remember which one,” she told Farrell.
Farrell said that the phone actually did not need a pin code.
He said the search had finished about 3.30pm, then police searched a unit in Mount Waverley which detectives believed was also owned by Patterson. Nothing was seized during the second search.
The court also heard on Tuesday from Sally Ann Atkinson, a Department of Health official who investigated the lunch to determine if it required a broader public health response.
The investigation led to a final report about the lunch, dubbed The Patterson Family Outbreak, which concluded that “it was highly unlikely that the commercial mushroom supply chain was contaminated with amatoxins” and that “the risk to public health was deemed very low”.
The trial continues.
