Erin Patterson claimed cancer but by accident served death cap mushrooms instead

Today we dive deep into the testimony of Erin Patterson, the accused in the mushroom murder trial, who admits under questioning that her Beef Wellington may have contained death cap mushrooms, while also revealing a web of lies about medical conditions. Ms Patterson's testimony reveals her attempts to reconnect with the Patterson family through meals, and fabricated medical issues to gain sympathy.

• Ms Patterson hosted a lunch on June 24th 2023 to reconnect with her ex-in-laws
• She admitted fabricating a medical issue including a lump requiring biopsy and MRI
• Ms Patterson confessed she lied to maintain the care and concern the family showed her
• The fatal Beef Wellington recipe came from Recipe Tin Eats cookbook with "deviations"
• She claimed to add dried mushrooms from her pantry because the mixture tasted "bland"
• Patterson acknowledged those mushrooms may have included foraged death caps
• She claimed to become ill after eating Gail Patterson's orange cake after guests left
• Patterson admitted lying about having ovarian cancer to hide gastric bypass plans
• She's pleading not guilty to three counts of murder and one attempted murder charge

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Mushroom Murder Trial
podcast.
My name is Lisa and I'm a truecrime podcaster and journalist.
Most weekdays we deliverdetailed coverage of one of
Australia's most closely watchedlegal trials.
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(00:21):
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(00:42):
Please also subscribe to thispodcast on your preferred
platform so you never miss anepisode.
Now, today we had more of themushroom cook's testimony, and
it was about the lunch and aboutthe lies.
And even though the accused,erin Trudy Patterson, is the
final witness, we still have afew weeks to go.

(01:04):
I can't say when it will end,but we might know more tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I've been sittingthrough every hearing over the
past six weeks and I've barelyleft home.
So I'm starting to feel andlook a little like Bridget Jones
when she was stuck in a Thaiprison, but moving along.
Enough about my complaining.
Stuck in a Thai prison, butmoving along.

(01:27):
Enough about my complaining.
I need to tell you whathappened today.
We heard again from Ms Pattersonabout the lunch before the
lunch, so that was on June 24,2023.
It was a meal of shepherd's pieand it was hosted at her
Leangatha home with Don and GailPatterson attending and her
children.
She had also invited herex-husband, simon, to the

(01:49):
gathering.
The 50-year-old told theSupreme Court of Victoria at
Morwell she had grown concernedthat there may have been some
distancing between her and thePatterson family, noting that in
the past Simon would usuallymention family events, but Miss
Patterson said there hadrecently been one or two

(02:09):
gatherings she was not invitedto, so in about May or June she
decided to make more of aneffort to reconnect, hence the
lunch on June 24.
Erin described Don and Gail'srelationship with their
grandchildren as strong and shesaid the children enjoyed
spending time with them.

(02:29):
Later, the court referred to atext message from Gail about a
medical appointment.
Erin said she may havementioned the appointment to
Gail before or during the lunch.
At the time she told the olderwoman she had a lump in her arm,
had undergone a needle biopsyand would be returning for an

(02:51):
MRI the following week.
However, she confirmed to thecourt that this was not true.
There had been no biopsy and noMRI that was scheduled.
She admitted to fabricating thestory.
Ms Patterson explained thatsome weeks earlier she had
experienced pain in her elbowand the Pattersons had shown her

(03:11):
care and concern.
She found that supportcomforting and acknowledged that
this influenced her decision tocontinue the deception.
She said she did not want theircare to stop.
On July 6, she falsely toldGail via SMS that there was a
quote a bit to digest from theMRI.

(03:32):
In reality she had beenconsidering gastric bypass
surgery but had chosen not todisclose this.
She stated she may have let thefamily believe the situation
was more serious in order to getsecure assistance with the
children during her recovery.
Ms Patterson told the court hermother had always made beef

(03:54):
Wellington as a special occasionrecipe when she was a child.
So after a lot of considerationshe chose that dish for the
July 29 lunch Quote.
It was in my recipe book Recipe, tin Eats I think that's where
I found it.
Initially she said Ms Pattersonbought the majority of the

(04:14):
ingredients from Woolworths inLeangatha.
She said she may have also gotsome ingredients at the IGA or
Aldi.
Her barrister, colin Mandy SC,asked if she'd followed the
recipe for Beef Wellington inthe Recipe Tin Eats cookbook
followed the recipe for BeefWellington in the recipe tin
eats cookbook.
She said quote roughly but saysshe made some quote deviations.

(04:35):
Miss Patterson said she couldnot buy a single beef tenderloin
so she bought individual eyefillet steaks instead.
On the morning of July 29, shebegan preparing the mushroom
mince paste, frying garlic andshallots before chopping the
mushrooms in a thermomix andcooking them to reduce the

(04:58):
moisture so your pastry doesn'tget soggy.
She began cooking with the aimto serve the meal at 12.30pm and
made six individual beefWellington portions 30pm and
made six individual BeefWellington portions.
Miss Patterson said sheaccepted the Beef Wellington she
served.
Her lunch guests containeddeath cat mushrooms.
She had primarily usedmushrooms from Woolworths and an

(05:21):
Asian stall.
But Miss Patterson said themince paste tasted a little bit
bland.
I tasted it a few times and itseemed bland to me so I decided
to put the dried mushrooms fromin the pantry, she said At the
time I believe it was justmushrooms I got from the grocer
in Melbourne but now I thinkthere was a possibility there

(05:45):
were foraged ones in there aswell.
She noticed that the Pattersonshad been holding quarterly
family gatherings to celebratebirthdays and Gail had, on that
day, invited her to the next one.
She was pleased to agree toattend.
Ms Patterson said she used hernormal dinner plates and stated

(06:07):
that she did not own grey plates.
As well as this, she did notfinish her portion of food at
the Beef Wellington lunch,mainly because she was talking a
lot.
She said after the guests leftshe ate two-thirds of an orange
cake that Gail Patterson hadbrought over to the lunch.
After eating the cake she fellill, she said, and threw up the

(06:30):
food.
The jury was told that she hada history of disordered eating.
Ms Patterson said she plannedfor the gastric bypass surgery
but was embarrassed to tellanyone.
She told the court she insteadlied to her guests about having
ovarian cancer so she wouldn'thave to reveal the weight loss
surgery and they could help herwith logistics.

(06:52):
Around the kids, she said Quote.
They showed a lot of compassion.
Why don't we pray for Erin?
And I lied to them, quote.
I was really embarrassed,ashamed.
I didn't have control over mybody or what I ate.
I shouldn't have lied.
Now we will continue tomorrowreporting on this in a special

(07:15):
bonus episode.
But just keep in mind MsPatterson is fighting three
counts of murder and one countof attempted murder, but she's
pleading not guilty.
So thank you so much forlistening today.
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(07:37):
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(08:00):
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(08:21):
I'll be putting something outin the morning for you because
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Thanks Bye.