Accused mushroom cook sells Mount Waverley townhouse

Leongatha woman Erin Patterson, who is accused of poisoning family members with mushrooms, has sold her property in Mount Waverley for an undisclosed price.

She listed the three-bedroom townhouse for sale with a guide of $960,000 to $1.05 million, and it was due to go to auction on Saturday morning.

A Mount Waverley property owned by Erin Patterson found a buyer.Credit: Pricefinder

However, the listing for the property was withdrawn earlier today, and real estate agency Ray White confirmed the townhouse had sold to a local buyer.

It is not the home where the mushroom lunch was served.

Ray White Glen Waverley director Darryl Wickham said in a statement that there had been strong interest in the property.

“This was a private sale, and we won’t be discussing any details of the campaign except to say we had a lot of interest from local buyers,” Wickham said.

Located in the Mount Waverley Secondary catchment, the three-bedroom home was marketed to suit a range of buyers including first-home buyers, families, investors and downsizers.

While Patterson and her former husband Simon Patterson were previously the owners, public records show the property was transferred from joint ownership into Erin Patterson’s name alone in 2021. The townhouse previously traded in 2019 for $931,000.

Erin Patterson has bought and sold at least six properties in Gippsland and Melbourne since 2014.

Erin Patterson in August.Credit: Marta Pascual Juanola

She is accused of lacing a winter’s lunch in her Leongatha home with poisonous mushrooms that killed three former family members and almost claimed the life of a fourth. She has faced court also charged with attempting to murder her estranged husband four times.

Patterson’s former in-laws, Don Patterson, 70, and Gail Patterson, 70, as well as Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, all died in hospital days after the lunch, where beef Wellington was served. Heather’s husband, 68-year-old Baptist pastor Ian Wilkinson, was released from the Austin Hospital after seven weeks of treatment – most of which he spent in a coma.

Police allege that the poisoning was caused by death cap mushrooms. The death cap is responsible for 90 per cent of mushroom-poisoning deaths. One bite can be enough to kill someone, causing severe gastroenteritis and eventually organ failure.

With Erin Pearson