Erin Patterson verdict as it happened: Guilty mushroom cook showed ‘no expression or reaction’ to jury findings; Morwell locals react outside court

Erin Patterson has just been told she’s been found guilty of murder. As the verdicts were read, she stared at the jury with no emotion.

She has been found guilty of three charges of murder and one of attempted murder.

The Supreme Court jury has just handed down its verdicts in the Latrobe Valley law courts in Morwell.

Erin Patterson, pictured in a prison van on May 12.Credit: AFP

Thanks for following our coverage of the jury’s verdict in Erin Patterson’s murder trial.

Patterson, 50, was found guilty of three charges of murder and one of attempted murder after the Supreme Court jury found she deliberately poisoned her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and her other lunch guests, Heather and Ian Wilkinson, with death cap mushrooms concealed in a beef Wellington meal she served at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.

Clockwise from left: Erin Patterson and her guests who died after the 2023 lunch, Heather Wilkinson and Gail and Don Patterson.Credit: Matthew Absalom-Wong

Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson died in the days after the lunch. Ian Wilkinson survived after seven weeks in hospital.

The jury deliberated for six days before handing down its verdicts on Monday afternoon.

Patterson will be sentenced at a later date.

Read here for a recap of every day of the trial, which began in late April.

When Leongatha father Simon Patterson put on his tax return in 2022 that he was separated, it set off a lethal chain of events.

The relationship between him and his estranged wife, Erin Patterson, deteriorated well before a July 2023 mushroom lunch killed three church parishioners as the pair quarrelled over child support payments and where their children would go to school.

Read more of Erin Pearson’s report on that fateful tax return here.

Erin Patterson and Simon Patterson.

There was no emotion from triple murderer Erin Patterson when four guilty verdicts were handed down in the Supreme Court – not even a flinch.

Instead, it was her defence team who seemed more defeated, as they leant back in their chairs as the jury foreperson read out their client’s fate: “guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty” in quick succession in less than a minute.

Erin Patterson outside court during her trial.Credit: The Age

Colin Mandy, SC, rested his chin on his hand, while lawyer Bill Doogue stared right ahead.

Court reporter Erin Pearson covered every day of Patterson’s trial and sat metres away from the killer when the jury handed down its verdicts. Read more of what she saw here.

For the first time, we’re bringing you a look at the key exhibits and moments that defined Erin Patterson’s murder trial. From the triple-zero call to the photos of the beef Wellington leftovers, and the detailed evidence surrounding her actions, here’s a first look at the pieces of the puzzle that led to today’s guilty verdict.

This article, which can be read here, will be continuously updated as more details and exhibits are released by the Supreme Court.

A photo shown to the jury of the beef Wellington leftovers recovered from a bin at Erin Patterson’s home.Credit: Supreme Court of Victoria

Erin Patterson has been driven away in the back of a prison van from the Latrobe Valley law courts in Morwell.

A prison van with Erin Patterson inside prepares to leave the Latrobe Valley law courts in Morwell.Credit: Jason South

“Murderer,” a person shouted as the van went through the gates with a police escort.

Patterson will be sentenced at a later date.

Following the verdict, psychologist Mary Hahn-Thomsen has written an opinion piece providing some fascinating insights into Erin Patterson, and answering the questions Hahn-Thomsen heard asked over and over in relation to the murder trial.

Our columnist Malcolm Knox, meanwhile, has penned a piece on the public’s intense fixation on the mushrooms case, and why the level of people’s fascination with the trial is different to any other in Australian history.

Erin Patterson sold a Mount Waverley property in Melbourne’s east, and her legal team now has a mortgage out on her “forever home” in Leongatha after a lengthy, high-powered defence.

Erin Patterson’s Leongatha home, the scene of the fatal lunch.Credit: Joe Armao

Read more about how a $2 million gift paid for her lawyers here.

Detective Inspector Dean Thomas, head of the homicide squad, has just spoken to reporters outside the court in Morwell.

He thanked the investigators who had worked tirelessly on the case since just days after the lunch in 2023.

Inspector Dean Thomas speaks to the media on Monday.Credit: Jason South

He also thanked the specialist services and the Office of Public Prosecutions, especially the prosecution team.

Before continuing, he asked the public to remember that this was a case that involved three dead people – Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson. He said Ian Wilkinson, who almost died, was a victim too.

“I think it’s very important that we remember that ... three people have died, and we’ve had a person that nearly died, and was seriously injured as a result,” Thomas said.

“I ask that we acknowledge those people, and not forget them.”

On that note, he told reporters that those two families had asked for privacy.

He ended the brief press conference with a statement that he would not take any further questions.

Court reporter Erin Pearson, who has been in Morwell for the entirety of the 10-week trial, caught this footage of Colin Mandy, SC, and the rest of Erin Patterson’s legal team today.

Kelly Phelan, a Traralgon local who attended every day of the case, cried outside court, saying she felt sick hearing the guilty verdicts.

Defence lawyer Colin Mandy, SC, leaves court on verdict day.Credit: Getty Images

“I feel sick,” she said. “She has kids; every kid deserves a mum.

“Even though I wanted a guilty.”