Fresh details have emerged about convicted Australian triple-murderer Erin Patterson’s alleged repeated attempts to poison her estranged husband, Simon Patterson — claims she denied — which were previously suppressed during her trial.
Patterson, 50, was last month found guilty of murdering her former in-laws Don Patterson, 70, and Gail Patterson, 70, as well as Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, by serving them a beef Wellington laced with toxic death cap mushrooms in July 2023.
Local pastor Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband, survived after weeks in hospital. Simon Patterson had been invited to the lunch but declined to attend.
While initially facing three counts of attempted murder against her husband, those charges were dropped before trial, meaning the jury did not hear his testimony.
Pre-trial hearings have now revealed Simon’s claim that his wife had waged a years-long campaign to kill him, leaving him hospitalised multiple times.
O1ne alleged incident left him in a coma, with doctors twice telling his family to say their goodbyes.
Simon testified that he often fell ill after meals Erin prepared, including curry, wraps, Bolognese pasta, and chocolate cookies she said their daughter had baked.
He began keeping notes and eventually confided his suspicions to relatives, including his father Don, and to a doctor, but did not believe anyone else was at risk — a decision he later regretted when his parents became fatally ill.
Pre-trial evidence also suggested police suspected rat poison was used in at least one incident and had found a file on Patterson’s computer about the toxin.
They also heard that she visited a local waste tip hours after the fatal lunch and returned days later to dispose of a food dehydrator used to prepare the meal.
Other excluded evidence included a 2020 Facebook post in which Patterson claimed her cat had eaten mushrooms and vomited — despite never owning a cat.
Prosecutors argued the post indicated a long-standing interest in the poisonous properties of mushrooms.
These revelations, though not presented to the jury, paint a chilling backdrop to a case that shocked Australia and drew global attention.
