Erin Patterson: When alleged mushroom killer will face trial

There’s been a new development in the case of alleged triple-murderer Erin Patterson, who faces allegations she poisoned her in-laws with a deadly lunch.

Alleged triple-murderer Erin Patterson will face trial near her home community early next year.

The 49-year-old appeared in the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday for a pre-trial hearing.
The matter has been sent down for trial at the Latrobe Valley Supreme Court on April 28 next year.

Ms Patterson formally pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder during a hearing in the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court on May 7.

Erin Patterson visits lawyers, one month after the deadly mushroom meal.

Two weeks before the hearing in which she was committed to stand trial, her barrister Colin Mandy SC told the court that Ms Patterson wanted the case heard close to home rather than Melbourne’s Supreme Court.

“If it has to be next year, Ms Patterson is content to wait for that,” he said.

The mother of two was charged in November last year after four members of her estranged family fell ill following a lunch at her Leongatha home on July 29.

It’s alleged she murdered three people by serving a beef wellington laced with poisonous mushrooms.

Don Patterson died in hospital on August 5, while his wife, Gail died a day earlier. Picture: Supplied

Heather Wilkinson died in hospital on August 4, while her husband Ian Wilkinson survived. Picture: Supplied

Ms Patterson has been charged with four counts of attempted murder relating to her ex-husband Simon Patterson. Picture: NewsWire / David Geraghty

Her ex-husband’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, both aged 70, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, died in hospital.

Ms Wilkinson’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, survived after spending almost two months in hospital.

The remaining four attempted murder charges allege Ms Patterson attempted to kill her ex-husband Simon Patterson in 2021, twice in 2022 and in July 2023.