THE trial of the alleged poison mushroom cook has begun with a shocking twist, as some charges have been mysteriously dropped.
Erin Patterson, 50, now faces four charges – three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.
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Patterson previously faced three counts of murdering her in-laws as well as a total of five counts of attempted murder following a deadly feast at her home in Leongatha, Australia.
One of the charges was for the attempted murder of her estranged husband Simon Patterson – but this has suddenly been dropped.
Justice Christopher Beale told the jury that Patterson was no longer accused of attempting to murder her husband.
He also urged the jury to forget about any previous charges, saying: “In other words… you must put them out of your mind.”
The bombshell trial is set to continue on Wednesday in Morwell – around 40 miles from where the fatal mushroom lunch allegedly took place.
On July 29 2023 Patterson gathered her estranged husband’s relatives together for a Saturday lunch at her home.
She served up a beef wellington – allegedly containing death cap mushrooms and her guests soon became violently ill.
Her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, all died within a week.
Pastor Ian Wilkinson was the only one who survived the deadly lunch.
But he was left in critical condition and spent almost two months being treated in the Austin Hospital – including time spent in a coma.
Doctors have confirmed all four of their symptoms were consistent with poisoning by death cap mushrooms, which grow wild in the area.
Patterson has long denied any wrongdoing and and has always insisted she never meant to serve “my loved ones” the deadly mushrooms.
She pleaded not guilty to the murder charges in the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court in May 2024.
But this is not the first time Patterson has faced accusations of attempted murder.
On “three separate incidents” spanning across 2021 to 2022, police say that Erin attempted to kill a 48-year-old Korumburra man.
It’s understood this man is Erin’s ex-husband, Simon Patterson.
Two of the dates are unknown, however in May 2022, Simon claimed to have suffered from a mystery illness that fighting for life in hospital.
In a social media post, he wrote: “I collapsed at home, then was in an induced coma for 16 days through which I had three emergency operations mainly on my small intestine, plus an additional planned operation.
“My family were asked to come and say goodbye to me twice, as I was not expected to live.
“I was in intensive care for 21 days…”
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And the case has not been short of its twists and turns.
In August 2023 a tradesman came forward to reveal that he had seen and photographed what he called a “death wall” inside Erin’s former home.
The tradesman said he was hired to paint the inside last year so it could be flogged.
But he got more than he bargained for and discovered eerie drawings scrawled in blue and red markers.
Messages were also found over the wall – with one chilling note reading: “You don’t [have] long to live”.
That same day, a neighbour of Patterson’s claimed she was an experienced forager, who regularly picked her own mushrooms in the local area.
In March 2024 cops delved into Patterson’s Facebook accounts in the hope of bolstering charges against her.
Patterson had a number of profiles online and constantly used different names to post and interact with others, according to the Herald Sun.
She also allegedly took to Facebook to declare she was “very good at details” before the fateful lunch.
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