Mushroom cook Erin Patterson ‘reluctant’ for guest to tour pantry: Ian Wilkinson
Ian Wilkinson has detailed how he initially rejected a push to go to the hospital after being served a poisonous beef Wellington at Erin Patterson’s house.
Ian Wilkinson, the sole surviving guest to eat Erin Patterson’s poisoned beef Wellington, has detailed how she allegedly refused help plating up the deadly meal, and was “reluctant” to let her guests tour her pantry.
In his first full public account of the fatal lunch, Mr Wilkinson said he had been “very happy” when Ms Patterson invited him and his wife, Heather, for a meal, and he had hoped it would be a step in improving their unremarkable relationship. But the Baptist church pastor recalled how the guests became incredibly ill in the hours after the lunch, which eventually left him intubated for weeks in a Melbourne hospital, and killed Heather, her sister Gail Patterson, and Gail’s husband Donald.
Erin Patterson, 50, is on trial for the murder of all three after allegedly deliberately serving them a beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms at a July 2023 lunch in her Leongatha home.
She has also been charged with the attempted murder of Mr Wilkinson, and has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against her.
Mr Wilkinson, 71, spent about two hours in the witness stand on Tuesday. When he arrived in the courtroom, he looked, expressionless, in the direction of Ms Patterson before proceeding to swear an oath and give evidence.
He wore Blundstone work boots, a black casual vest and khaki pants, telling the jury he was the pastor of the Korumburra Baptist Church and had been for 26 years.
He met his wife Heather in 1976. They were married three years later, and went on to have four children.
Mr Wilkinson said the family had not been close to Erin Patterson, who had married Simon Patterson – the son of Heather’s sister, Gail Patterson. Their relationship “didn’t have much depth”, he said, and the pair were “more like acquaintances”.
Heather would have seen Ms Patterson more than him, Mr Wilkinson said, but “we didn’t consider the relationship was close”.
It was for this reason, he said, that Heather was “excited” when Ms Patterson invited her and Mr Wilkinson at church to go to her home for lunch.
Prior to the invitation, Mr Wilkinson said he had only ever been to Ms Patterson’s house twice, and both times he only spoke to her outside.
Mr Wilkinson, too, was “very happy to be invited”.
“It seemed like maybe our relationship with Erin was going to improve,” he said.
Don and Gail Patterson had picked up the Wilkinsons on July 29, 2023 and the four had arrived about 12.30pm, where they had been greeted by Ms Patterson.
Heather Wilkinson had noted, when they arrived, that Simon’s car was not there and was told by one of the Pattersons that he would not be at the lunch.
They went into the open-plan dining area, where there was “general conversation” which “was being driven, in my memory, by Heather and Gail,” Mr Wilkinson said.
Eventually, chatter turned to Ms Patterson’s pantry.
“Heather was very interested in pantries at that time because we’d just built one at home. Whenever we went to somebody’s house where they said, ‘We have a pantry’, she wanted to look at it because she wanted to get ideas for setting up her pantry,” Mr Wilkinson said.
“So on hearing about the pantry, she just immediately started walking towards it, calling out, ‘Can I have a look at your pantry?‘ And she assumed the answer would be ‘yes’. She got about halfway to the pantry and Gail decided she would go to the pantry. She started following and Heather was calling out to me, ‘Come and look at the pantry’.”
Mr Wilkinson said he noticed Erin was “very reluctant” to allow her guests into the pantry.
“I thought, ‘Maybe the pantry is a mess, it’s going to be an embarrassment, so I won’t add to the embarrassment by joining the party’.” he said.
Once it was time for lunch, Mr Wilkinson said the group moved to the dining area where Erin Patterson mashed potatoes and served individually parcelled beef Wellingtons.
He said both elderly women, who were leaning against the kitchen bench at the time, offered to plate up. “No, the offer was rejected and Erin plated,’’ he said.
He said there were four large grey dinner plates and one smaller plate, which he told the jury was an orange/tan colour.
Gail Patterson had carried two grey plates to the table and Ms Wilkinson two grey plates, while Erin pickled up an odd plate.
Defence counsel Colin Mandy SC suggested there were not any grey plates at the lunch, but Mr Wilkinson disagreed.
The group said grace and ate. The court heard there was a bit of “banter” about Don finishing half of Gail’s serve, as well as eating his own. Ian and Heather Wilkinson both ate their own meals.
The conversation turned to Erin Patterson’s cancer diagnosis.
Mr Wilkinson said Erin Patterson told her guests she was suffering from a “life-threatening” form of cancer, but he could not recall what type. The court has previously heard the diagnosis was fabricated.
“She spoke about a diagnostic test she had had that showed a spot on a scan that was a tumour,” Mr Wilkinson said.
Under questioning from Mr Mandy, he denied Ms Patterson had said she had suspected cancer at the time.
“The conversation moved fairly quickly to the point of anxiety Erin had expressed which was ‘What do I do about the kids in this situation?’,” Mr Wilkinson said. “She was asking us ‘What do you think I should do?’.”
One of the guests noticed Erin’s son was arriving home with his friend, and “we weren’t going to be able to continue”. Mr Wilkinson prayed, and the topic changed once the children walked in. The guests left the lunch shortly after to ensure Mr Wilkinson was home for a pre scheduled 3pm meeting.
Late that night Mr Wilkinson and his wife became critically ill. Mr Wilkinson said Heather spoke with Don and Gail Patterson around dawn, and learned they were also unwell.
Simon Patterson was eager for the Wilkinsons to go to hospital - where the Pattersons were headed - but Mr Wilkinson told him it was “a case of gastro”. “In a few hours, we’ll be alright,” Mr Wilkinson recalled saying.
Eventually, Simon arrived at the Wilkinsons’ home and drove them to Leongatha Hospital. They were eventually transferred to Dandenong Hospital, where Don and Gail Patterson were being treated.
The last thing Mr Wilkinson remembers is drinking a charcoal substance before being sedated, intubated and transferred to Austin Hospital in east Melbourne.
He was much later released to a rehabilitation ward on September 11, 2023.
The Victorian Supreme Court, currently sitting 155km east of Melbourne in Morwell, also heard evidence from Hartley Wells Betta Home Living retailer Darren Fox who said one of his employees told him she had sold a dehydrator to Erin Patterson.
The jury was shown a tax invoice for a Sunbeam Food Lab Electronic Dehydrator which revealed the item was sold to Ms Patterson on April 28, 2023.
The court has previously heard that Erin had dumped a dehydrator at a rubbish tip near where the lunch was held.
The trial continues.
More Coverage
‘Punch a racist’ conference cleared by QUT review
A review has found poet Lorna Munro did not intended to promote aggression when she urged delegates at the debate to ‘punch a racist’, and showed slides of people being punched in the head.
1000 jobs slashed at Transport for NSW
Almost 1000 senior service manager and award roles will be slashed, weeks after the state government reached a landmark deal with the rail unions.