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Ellie DudleyLegal Affairs Correspondent

Ellie Dudley is The Australian’s legal affairs correspondent covering courts, justice and changes to the legal profession. She edits The Australian’s weekly legal newsletter, Ipso Facto, and won Young Journalist of the Year in 2024 at both the Kennedy Awards and the News Awards.

@EllieDudley_

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MUSHROOM MURDER TRIALNation

‘A bit mushy inside’: Erin Patterson details dehydrator ‘experiments’

The triple-murder accused has for the first time publicly accepted that her beef Wellington meal that killed her elderly relatives must have contained death cap mushrooms.

Ellie Dudley

mushroom trialNation

Erin Patterson, the homeowner of where the fatal lunch took place, arrived at her Leongatha property on Monday afternoon. Three people have died from eating mushrooms Picture: Brooke , Grebert-Craig.

Erin Patterson accepts her beef Wellington contained death cap mushrooms

Patterson has for the first time publicly accepted that the lunch she cooked, and which killed three people, must have contained the poisonous mushrooms.

Ellie Dudley

MUSHROOM MURDER TRIALNation

MORWELL, AUSTRALIA- NewsWire Photos JUNE 2, 2025: Court sketch of accused mushroom cook killer Erin Patterson in the Supreme Court, Latrobe Valley. Picture: NewsWire / Anita Lester

Erin Patterson: ‘I was fighting a never-ending battle of low self-esteem’

After five weeks of watching quietly as witnesses testified to her character, relationships and medical history, Erin Patterson entered the witness box on Monday.

Ellie Dudley

mushroom trialNation

Erin Patterson: ex-husband distanced me from his family before fatal lunch

The Leongatha mushroom chef says Simon Patterson was putting ‘a bit more distance and space’ between her and his family in the months leading up to the fatal beef Wellington lunch, and she ‘wasn’t being invited to so many things’.

Ellie Dudley

InquirerInquirer

Erin Patterson and estranged husband Simon Patterson. Picture: NewsWire

Lights, camera! Global pack poised for action in Morwell

The mushroom cook murder trial has drawn dozens of journalists, documentary makers and authors to regional Victoria. But the locals? I’m not sure they’ll miss us.

Ellie Dudley

ERIN PATTERSON TRIALNation

Erin Patterson claimed to police mushrooms were bought from local shop

‘Best mum-in-law’: Signal messages released

The Victorian Supreme Court has been shown exchanges within the Patterson family discussing Covid-19, maths tutoring and Mother’s Day.

Ellie Dudley

MUSHROOM MURDER TRIALNation

Composite image of Detective leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall and Erin Patterson. Picture: Composite NewsWire/ Supplied.

‘Morons’: Group chat pile-on targets Patterson ex, in-laws

Online friends of Erin Patterson said they hoped her estranged husband would ‘pay up soon’ and called him and his parents ‘morons’, according to group chat messages extracted as part of the mushroom chef’s murder trial.

Ellie Dudley

Mushroom trialNation

Detective Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall and Erin Patterson.

‘Morons’: Patterson’s online friend on in-laws, ex-husband

One of Erin Patterson’s online Facebook friends allegedly referred to her family members as ‘morons’, according to messages shown to the court.

Ellie Dudley

MUSHROOM MURDER TRIALNation

On the digital trail of an SIM card swap out

A SIM card allegedly operated by Erin Patterson was swapped out of her phone and into another while investigators were executing a search warrant on her house.

Ellie Dudley

Cyber hackLegal Affairs

Hackers using laptop computers to penetrate security systems to steal big data from the server room; scammers generic fraud cyber

Lawyer bank details, contacts posted to dark web

The Perth legal fraternity has been rocked by a cyber security scandal which has exposed the bank account details and contact information of practitioners.

Ellie Dudley

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/ellie-dudley/page/3