Erin Patterson’s Leongatha home seized to compensate the families of her victims

The Leongatha home where Erin Patterson executed her deadly mushroom lunch plot has been restrained by authorities, to enable compensation for the families of her victims.

The country home where mushroom cook Erin Patterson carried out her heinous poison plot has been restrained by authorities to be able to compensate her victims’ families.

Patterson, 50, was earlier this month found guilty of the murders of her estranged husband’s parents Don and Gail Patterson, Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and the attempted murder of Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson after a mammoth trial in Morwell.

A Supreme Court jury found the cold-blooded killer served them beef wellingtons she had deliberately laced with death cap mushrooms at her Gibson St home in Leongatha on July 29, 2023.

Patterson said she wanted the Gibson St home to be one “where the children would grow up” and she would “grow old”. Picture: AFP

Now, two years and one day on from that lethal lunch, it can be revealed that the home on a hectare block – estimated to be worth more than $1m – has been restrained after the prosecution applied on July 16 for an order under confiscation legislation.

Days earlier, on July 12, the Herald Sun questioned why her assets had not yet been frozen by authorities.

It is understood that the order was sought to ensure that if any of her victims’ family members apply for compensation and their applications are granted by the court, the property can be sold and the proceeds distributed.

But these applications may be opposed by Patterson’s defence lawyers as she maintains her innocence and is set to launch an appeal.

Her lawyers also took out a mortgage over the property as surety her legal bills will be paid, which could not have occurred if it was immediately restrained after Patterson was charged in November 2023.

It remains unclear if the prosecution will challenge the mortgage.

Patterson was found guilty of triple murder and attempted murder. Picture: Martin Keep

Doogue + George, the law firm that defended Patterson, states on its website that restraining orders stop a person from being able to deal with their property.

“Restraining orders can stop you from accessing, selling or using your property,” the website reads.

“This could be in case the prosecution wants to apply to confiscate / forfeit it or wants to preserve it for use to compensate alleged victims of crime.”

The “urgent application” for the restraining order was heard by Justice Michelle Quigley in the Supreme Court on July 23.

The court was closed – meaning the media and members of the public were unable to observe – but the order was granted.

Justice Quigley was satisfied that there were “reasonable grounds” to make the order and it was “likely” an application for compensation will be made.

The matter will return to court for a directions hearing on November 12.

Ian Wilkinson attended most days of the trial. Picture: David Crosling

After surviving the lunch against all odds and losing his beloved wife, Ian would be the first in line for compensation. He shared four children with Heather.

Don and Gail also left behind four children, including Simon Patterson, the estranged husband of the triple murderer.

Don and Gail Patterson. Picture: Supplied

Heather Wilkinson. Picture: Supplied

Over the years, Patterson bought and sold several properties across Melbourne’s southeast, Leongatha and Korumburra after she was bequeathed millions in the wake of the deaths of her grandmother and mother.

But she considered her Gibson St property her dream home.

“What were your plans for the house?” Patterson was asked by her defence barrister Colin Mandy SC as she took to the witness box in her own trial.

“I saw it as the final house, meaning I wanted it to be a house where the children would grow up, where once they moved away for uni or work, they could come back and stay whenever they liked, bring their children, and I’d grow old there. That’s what I hoped,” she replied.

Patterson told the court she sketched out her vision for the home on Microsoft Paint.

Black plastic tarps were wrapped around the front of the Gibson St home in early July. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake

In messages obtained by the Herald Sun, she gushed to her Facebook mates about buying the land for about a quarter of a million dollars in 2019.

“I bought this today,” she wrote with a link attached to the block.

“Literally so excited I can’t breathe!!!”

She sold her Mount Waverley unit for more than $1m after she was charged.

Patterson is expected to face a pre-sentence hearing in the coming months.