‘Openly admitted’: Former inmate reveals Erin Patterson’s prison threat to estranged husband

A former inmate who shared a unit with the mushroom cook killer has revealed what she said about her ex-husband while locked up in maximum security.

Erin Patterson has been talking during the 19 months since her arrest in November 2023.

The mushroom cook killer, who poisoned three of her in-laws with a beef wellington dish laced with death cap mushrooms, is by all accounts quite chatty behind bars.

One former inmate who shared a unit with Patterson at Melbourne’s maximum security women’s prison says the 50-year-old wants to be the “centre of attention”.

“She’s intelligent but ... she is entitled, arrogant, demanding and rude,” the former inmate told news.com.au this week.

Locked up with Patterson for more than a year, the ex-prisoner kept meticulous diary notes. One in particular stands out.

Dated the 27th of July, 2024, the note makes mention of Patterson’s estranged husband Simon and how she really feels about him.

“Erin hates her ex-husband and openly admitted — she has made comments about no matter how long she gets (in prison), she will kill him,” the former inmate said.

Erin Patterson killed three lunch guests with a poisoned meal. Picture: Martin Keep/AFP

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During Patterson’s marathon trial, before a jury found her guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, text messages between the former couple were tendered into evidence.

Erin Patterson’s online messages were also tendered into evidence, including one where she wrote that Simon’s mum should be “horrified” that “her son is such a deadbeat”.

The pair had separated in 2015 but spent much of the following years maintaining an amicable relationship.

Continuing to co-parent their two children, the couple remained friends and attended family events together. They even took family holidays.

But, the jury was told, their relationship began to sour in the latter half of 2022.

According to the former Dame Phyllis Frost Centre inmate who spoke to news.com.au, Patterson was truly resentful during her time in prison.

News.com.au on Monday shared details from inside the Murray Unit at the female prison on Melbourne’s outskirts.

Erin Patterson and estranged husband Simon Patterson. Picture: NewsWire

Those details included an alleged poisoning incident that saw Patterson moved from the unit. A subsequent search of her cell recovered two bottles of mayonnaise and a chemistry book full of notations on natural remedies, the former inmate said.

“This is something I wrote in my notes,” the former inmate told news.com.au. “I was talking with (another inmate) and asked if I could borrow her mayonnaise.“She just laughed and joked about me ‘poisoning it like Erin Patterson did’.

“I was like ‘What the f***?’ and she told me the story about how prison officers found mayonnaise in Erin’s room that was allegedly used to poison (one of the inmates).

“She went to medical and was vomiting everywhere. She was saying that the mushroom lady’s cell was searched and they found chemistry books with pages tagged.”

The former inmate kept a diary note dated the 29th of July, 2024. In it she writes that prison guards found “two bottles of mayonnaise in Erin’s clothes basket” when they searched her room.

A justice department spokeswoman said: “There is no evidence to support that there has been any contaminated food or suspected poisonings at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre.”

Leftovers from the beef wellington dish that Erin Patterson served her guests — three of whom later died.

But the former inmate who spoke to news.com.au said the incident “100 per cent happened”.

During her time with Patterson, the former inmate said the 50-year-old was “hated”.

“She will need to be monitored by staff constantly. Nobody gives a shit about what she’s done. They hate her because she’s entitled, arrogant, demanding and rude.

“With Erin, she is constantly seeking special treatments, asking for things out of the ordinary that other prisoners wouldn’t get.

“She is super intelligent, likes to make people feel like they’re dumb. She is very manipulative. She gets fixated on things and doesn’t see the mistakes that she makes. She mimics and makes fun of people, looks down at people.”

The former inmate compared Patterson to Malka Leifer, the sex predator and former headmistress of the ultra-Orthodox Addas Israel school in Melbourne who is in a cell near Patterson’s.

Malka Leifer is the former headmistress of a Jewish girls school in Melbourne. Picture: David Crosling

News.com.au exclusively revealed earlier this year that Leifer was being given perks in prison that no other inmate was getting.

“Some things I can’t even explain to you. If she wants something, she gets it. She wanted an airfyer and had members of the Jewish community to write authorities about it. She gets whatever she wants.”

The former inmate said Leifer has the ability to bake challah — a braided bread that the Jewish community eats for Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, which is observed every Saturday.

Patterson will be sentenced after the court reconvenes next month. In the meantime, she will take up a job behind bars.

“Likely textiles,” the former inmate said, noting that Patterson has been spending her time knitting gifts for her two children on the outside.

Originally published as ‘Openly admitted’: Former inmate reveals Erin Patterson’s prison threat to estranged husband