Claim alleged mushroom meal murderer was an eccentric genius

Erin Patterson — the woman accused of three murders and five attempted murders over a deadly mushroom lunch — was an eccentric genius in her past work life as an air traffic controller.

The woman accused of three murders and facing multiple attempted murder charges over a deadly mushroom lunch once worked as an air traffic controller and was something of an eccentric genius it can be exclusively revealed.

Erin Patterson was part of air traffic control course number four in Melbourne — when she was Erin Scutter — between February and November 2001, and went on to work at Tullamarine before an abrupt departure in late 2002, a former colleague said.

An Airservices Australia spokesperson confirmed: “Erin Scutter was employed by Airservices Australia as an air traffic controller from 12 February 2001 until 28 November 2002.”

The former colleague said the then Erin Scutter was highly intelligent when he worked alongside her in 2002.

Erin Scutter with her graduating air controller course colleagues. Picture: Supplied

Not only did she graduate from the highly challenging training course that only a tiny percentage of people can enter and excel in, she went on to work independently in the field, he said.

“She was rated in the field and was actually responsible for running airspace for a while,” he said.

“She’s very bright and much brighter than people might think. She managed to get guys wrapped around her little finger although she was very unkempt … and she was abrasive.”

The former colleague described her as eccentric.

“I remember in the first week that she started in the job somebody walked behind her and tripped on a cord that was on the floor that was attached to her headset. She turned around and yelled ‘you right you buffoon?!’ It was the head of the air traffic control department. She didn’t hold back.”

Erin Scutter was based at the Tullmarine control tower. Picture: Supplied

Former air traffic control colleagues recognised Erin Patterson as Erin Scutter when they saw her on TV. Picture: Brooke Grebert-Craig.

The former colleague said when news of the alleged mushroom lunch deaths broke, air traffic controllers who had trained and worked with Erin thought the woman at the centre of it looked very familiar, even though they had not seen or heard from her for more than two decades.

“She’d put a bit of weight but she looked so familiar, and she had the same first name and we were 90 to 95 per cent convinced at that point that it was the same person, but then when we saw in the papers that her mother’s name was Scutter we were completely sure,” he said.

“And I remember that one of the reporters asked her how she was feeling as she was walking into a house early on, and she turned around and said ‘thanks for asking’, and as soon as she said that, well that was the classic sort of line that would come out of her mouth.”

He said Erin had been entrusted with a lot of responsibility in her role as an air traffic controller and been “rated on two or three” airspace areas with Airservices Australia, which controlled a large chunk of airspace.

Airservices Australia is the federal government agency responsible for the safe and efficient management of 11 per cent of the world’s airspace and the provision of aviation rescue fire fighting services at Australia’s busiest airports.

Originally published as Claim alleged mushroom meal murderer was an eccentric genius