It was a quiet corner of a busy hospital, and the moment Simon Patterson says he finally told his family what he feared most.
Inside the chapel at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital, with four relatives critically ill nearby, Simon – Erin Patterson’s estranged husband – told members of the Patterson and Wilkinson families: “After the first time I got sick, I had the idea I got sick from Erin’s food. I did not give it too much thought.”
The meeting, described in testimony never heard by the jury, took place on August 2, 2023, just days after the fatal meal. Simon apologised for not warning them sooner, saying he thought he had been her only target until now.
The following day, he sent medical records to relatives. Members of the Wilkinson family then went to police, setting off a chain of events that formed part of the case against Erin Patterson.
Alleged attempts before the fatal lunch
A jury has found Victorian woman Erin Patterson guilty of murder, nearly two years after a family lunch ended in tragedy. (Source: 1News)
Prosecutors had alleged Erin Patterson tried to kill Simon three times between 2021 and 2022 – including with pasta, chicken curry and a vegetable wrap.
In one instance, he was hospitalised for weeks, underwent multiple emergency surgeries and had part of his bowel removed.
Simon’s GP told a pre-trial hearing he had advised him to keep a food journal to track repeated, unexplained bouts of severe illness. The court heard Simon had become so concerned he even researched potential poisons, including antifreeze and suspected cookies given to him before a family holiday may have been tampered with.
Those three attempted murder charges were dropped before trial, after the Court of Appeal ruled all allegations could not be heard together.
Warnings and reassurances
In the hours before the fatal mushroom lunch in July 2023, some family members were already uneasy.
Simon’s sister, Anna Terrington, told the court she voiced concerns to her father, Don, about attending the meal but he reassured her they would be “OK”.
Within two days, Don and his wife Gail were in comas, along with family friends Heather and Ian Wilkinson.
Doctor Chris Webster, who treated the victims, recalled being warned early on not to treat the cases as “common food poisoning” and was told: “It looks like someone is trying to take out the church community.”
The account of the hospital chapel meeting and the earlier alleged poisonings was never put before the jury. Court suppression orders meant the details could not be reported until now.
The revelations come just months after Erin Patterson was found guilty of murdering Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, after serving a beef Wellington laced with deadly death cap mushrooms at her Leongatha home.
She is due to be sentenced later this year.