Australian mushroom murderer tried to poison husband with pasta, curry: court

Erin Patterson’s husband said he felt ill after eating a penne bolognese, chicken curry and sandwich wrap she cooked for him

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A man walks past a mural of of Erin Patterson in Melbourne last month after she was found guilty of murdering three members of her husband’s family with toxic mushroom-laced beef wellington. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:55am, 8 Aug 2025Updated: 2:45pm, 8 Aug 2025

An Australian woman who murdered three of her in-laws with a meal of toxic mushrooms also allegedly tried to kill her husband using poisoned pasta, a chicken curry and a sandwich wrap, evidence showed on Friday after a judge allowed its disclosure.

Last month, a jury found Erin Patterson lured her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, to lunch at her home and poisoned them with servings of beef Wellington that contained death cap mushrooms.

They also found the 50-year-old guilty of the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband, who survived the 2023 meal at her home in Leongatha, a town of about 6,000 people some 135km (84 miles) southeast of Melbourne.

Erin Patterson outside the court in Melbourne, Australia, on April 15. Photo: EPA

Patterson was initially charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder in 2023, with the four additional counts relating to her estranged husband, Simon Patterson.

Justice Christopher Beale previously ruled the charges should be split into two separate trials, before the prosecution dropped the attempted murder charges relating to Simon Patterson on the eve of the first trial.

After the first time I got sick, I had the idea I got sick from Erin’s food

Simon Patterson

That meant details of the alleged attempts on her husband’s life in 2021 and 2022 were never heard by the jury.

“After the first time I got sick, I had the idea I got sick from Erin’s food,” Simon Patterson told a pre-trial hearing in Melbourne in October last year.

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Australian mushroom murderer tried to poison husband with pasta, curry: court

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Erin Patterson’s husband said he felt ill after eating a penne bolognese, chicken curry and sandwich wrap she cooked for him

Erin Patterson’s husband said he felt ill after eating a penne bolognese, chicken curry and sandwich wrap she cooked for him