‘Who died?’: Erin Patterson ‘surprised’ when police told her of mushroom lunch guests’ deaths, trial hears

Erin Patterson appeared surprised when told by homicide squad detectives during a search of her property that two of her lunch guests had died, a Victorian court has heard.

Det Sgt Luke Farrell gave evidence at Patterson’s triple murder trial on Tuesday about executing a search warrant at her Leongatha property a week after the lunch.

Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to poisoning her four lunch guests – relatives of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson – with a beef wellington served at her house in South Gippsland on 29 July 2023.

Patterson has pleaded not guilty to murdering Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, Simon’s uncle and Heather’s husband.

Lawyers for Patterson say the death cap mushroom poisoning was a tragic and terrible accident.

Farrell told the court that about 11.40am on 5 August 2023 he was part of a team of four homicide squad officers who arrived at Patterson’s house.

It was his responsibility to conduct the search, with other officers tasked with taking photos and videos of the search, and logging any seized items.

The court heard that a transcript of a recording of Farrell speaking to Patterson at the start of the search indicated that he introduced himself and said police had a warrant.

He then said: “It’s in connection with the death of two people over the past couple of days.” Patterson responded: “Who died?”

Earlier in his evidence, Farrell said Patterson had “expressed surprise” when she learned that some of her guests had died.

“I don’t know what she was or wasn’t aware of, but she was told in my presence, and expressed she didn’t know beforehand,” Farrell said.

The court heard that Heather Wilkinson had died about 2.05am on 4 August and Gail Patterson about 5.55pm the same day.

Farrell also told the court police had not seized plates from Patterson’s house during the search, except for a plate with fruit on it which Heather brought to lunch, nor had they photographed every plate.

Police seized several electronic devices during the search, including a phone, a tablet and a computer.

Photographs taken by officers during the search and shown to the court included images of multiple plates and a RecipeTin Eats Dinner cookbook.

Farrell said one page of the book was marked but that he had also found a recipe for beef wellington “splattered with cooking” on a separate page.

A video was also played to the jury showing Farrell sitting with Patterson at her kitchen table and explaining that the search had been completed but he would need to seize her phone.

She handed it over and said it may require a pin.

“It’s either 1315 or 131528, I can’t remember which one,” she told Farrell.

Farrell said that the phone actually did not need a pin code.

He said the search had finished about 3.30pm, then police searched a unit in Mount Waverley which detectives believed was also owned by Patterson. Nothing was seized during the second search.

The court also heard on Tuesday from Sally Ann Atkinson, a Department of health official who investigated the lunch to determine if it required a broader public health response.

The investigation led to a final report about the lunch, dubbed The Patterson Family Outbreak, which concluded that “it was highly unlikely that the commercial mushroom supply chain was contaminated with amatoxins” and that “the risk to public health was deemed very low”.

The trial continues.