Erin Patterson tells jury she became ill after consuming cake, denies deliberately poisoning fatal beef Wellington lunch
An Australian woman on trial for murder says she threw up the toxic mushroom meal which killed her relatives, after binge eating dessert.
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Erin Patterson, accused of murdering three relatives with a toxic mushroom meal, claims she vomited the lunch after binge-eating dessert. She pleads not guilty and says the poisoning was an accident.
Victoria, Australia — June 6, 2025
Erin Patterson, the Australian woman at the center of a high-profile mushroom poisoning murder trial, told a Victorian court this week that she vomited the fatal beef Wellington lunch shortly after consuming an excessive amount of dessert.
Patterson, 49, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one of attempted murder after a July 2023 lunch at her Leongatha home resulted in the deaths of three relatives and the hospitalization of a fourth. Prosecutors allege she intentionally served deadly death cap mushrooms, while her defense insists the incident was a tragic accident that also made her ill.
Victims Included Her Former In-Laws
Three of Patterson’s guests — her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66 — died from mushroom poisoning days after the meal. The fourth guest, Pastor Ian Wilkinson, survived after intensive hospital treatment.
Speaking in her own defense, Patterson admitted she had only eaten a portion of the dish before binge-eating “two-thirds” of an orange cake brought by Gail. She said she became “over-full and sick”, ultimately vomiting the meal. “After I threw up, I felt better,” she testified.
Claims of Bulimia and Accidental Use of Dried Mushrooms
During testimony, Patterson revealed she has secretly struggled with bulimia since her teens, often binge-eating and purging — a detail her defense says explains why she did not suffer the same fatal symptoms as her guests.
She told the court she prepared the beef Wellington dish using dried mushrooms from her pantry, which she had purchased months earlier from an Asian grocery store in Melbourne. Patterson said she believed the mushrooms tasted “bland” and added the dried ones to enhance the flavor.
“Now I think there was a possibility that there were foraged ones in there as well,” she said tearfully, referring to potentially deadly wild mushrooms like the Amanita phalloides, commonly known as the death cap.
Lies, Deleted Phone Data, and a Discarded Dehydrator
The jury also heard that Patterson lied about having cancer to gain sympathy and help with childcare ahead of a planned gastric bypass surgery. She admitted she was too embarrassed to tell her family the truth.
In the days following the poisoning, Patterson disposed of a food dehydrator and wiped her phone data, actions she said were driven by panic after her estranged husband accused her of poisoning his parents — a claim he denies.
“I was scared they would blame me,” Patterson told the court, admitting she deleted photos of mushrooms and the dehydrator from her phone because she didn’t want police to “misinterpret” them.
Prosecution to Begin Cross-Examination
The case continues at Morwell County Court, where prosecutors are expected to begin cross-examining Ms Patterson on Thursday. The 14-member jury will weigh whether the deaths were the result of a premeditated act of poisoning or a tragic culinary mistake.
