Woman Murdered Her Family With a Mushroom Wellington

Convicted triple-murderer Erin Patterson allegedly tried to repeatedly poison her husband, including with cookies she claimed their daughter had baked him, a court was told. The Australian woman was last month found guilty of murdering three relatives - and attempting to kill another - with a toxic mushroom-laced beef Wellington. The 50-year-old was originally charged with three counts of attempted murder against her estranged husband Simon Patterson, but these charges were dropped without explanation on the eve of her trial. The details of the allegations, which Patterson denied, were suppressed to protect the proceedings, but can now be made public for the first time. Three people died in hospital in the days after the lunch on 29 July 2023: Patterson's former in-laws, Don Patterson, 70, and Gail Patterson, 70, as well as Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66. Local pastor Ian Wilkinson – Heather's husband – recovered after weeks of treatment in hospital. In lengthy pre-trial hearings last year, Mr Patterson had detailed what he suspected was a years-long campaign to kill him with tainted food - including one episode which had left him so ill he spent weeks in a coma and his family was twice told to say their goodbyes.