24 h. ago I could hear gasps in the courtroom as the 'mushroom poisoner' finally took the stand and revealed why she survived

For five weeks, the fate of Erin Patterson has hinged on a single, contested question: how did she survive the toxic meal that left three of her guests dead and the fourth in a near-fatal coma?

Events

35 h. ago Australian woman accused of mushroom poisoning admits possible online search for deadly fungi

Erin Patterson is on trial for allegedly killing three family members with poisonous meal

Events

3 d. ago Mushroom trial mother accused of poisoning her in laws dumped a kitchen item used to make death cap lunch, court hears

Erin Patterson, 50, said she disposed of the food dehydrator at a local tip because she feared she would be blamed for making her relatives ill and her children would be taken from her.

Events

3 d. ago 'Mushroom poisoner' mum's astonishing explanation for fatal family lunch

Erin Patterson is on trial for murder after allegedly serving a dish containing toxic death cap mushrooms to her in-laws and their 66-year-old sister in Victoria in July 2023

Events

3 d. ago ‘Is that how you poisoned my parents?’: Erin Patterson tells mushroom trial husband confronted her over dehydrator

Triple murder accused, who denies deliberately poisoning anyone, tells court she dumped dehydrator used to dry foraged mushrooms due to feeling ‘scared’ of child protection officers seeing itWho are Erin Patterson and the other key figures in Australia’s mushroom trial?Erin Patterson has told a court her estranged husband asked her if she had used a dehydrator to poison his parents, and admitted resetting her phone out of fear police would discover photos she had of foraged mushrooms.In her third day in the witness box, Patterson also said she thinks there is a “possibility” that foraged mushrooms were unintentionally added to her beef wellington mixture as she tried to improve its “bland” flavour, and lied to her lunch guests about having cancer because she was embarrassed about planned weight loss surgery.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Beef Wellington mushroom 'poisoner' admits fatal lunch contained death caps

Erin Patterson denies three counts of murder and one of attempted murder after allegedly serving up a family meal which contained poisonous mushrooms at her home in Victoria, Australia

Events

4 d. ago After weeks of silence, Erin Patterson begins to tell her side of the story to deadly mushroom lunch trial

Accused triple murderer gives emotional testimony as she faces questions on beef wellington lunch that killed threeErin Patterson accepts beef wellington served at fatal lunch contained death cap mushrooms, triple murder trial hearsErin Patterson had been in the witness box for 142 minutes, a window to her right showing the rain falling outside in regional Victoria, when her barrister Colin Mandy SC said: “I’m going to ask you some questions now about mushrooms”.Patterson had already spoken to the court about her children and her family, her hefty inheritances, her relationship with her estranged husband, Simon, and their slow and gradual decoupling, in her evidence on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago An Australian woman on trial for triple murder testifies over mushroom poisoning

The woman accused of murdering three members of her ex-husband’s family by serving them poisonous mushrooms has taken the stand at an Australian court on Monday as the highly publicized triple murder trial nears its conclusion

Events

1 week ago Mushroom trial live: Erin Patterson denied owning dehydrator in video interview despite police finding manual during search

Australian woman, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder after a mushroom lunch at her house in regional Victoria in 2023. Follow live updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFarrell describes finding computer and mobile devicesDetectives located a Cooler Master computer in an upstairs bedroom. The jury is shown photographs of the computer. Farrell says he “deduced” the computer was located in Patterson’s son’s bedroom. He says a black Samsung mobile phone was also located in the same bedroom. The jury is shown photographs of the mobile on shelves inside a wardrobe in the bedroom. Farrell says a tablet was also located.That page was spattered with cooking liquids. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Mushroom trial live: detective describes items found in search of Erin Patterson’s home including RecipeTin Eats cookbook

Australian woman, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder after a mushroom lunch at her house in regional Victoria in 2023. Follow live updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFarrell describes finding computer and mobile devicesDetectives located a Cooler Master computer in an upstairs bedroom. The jury is shown photographs of the computer. Farrell says he “deduced” the computer was located in Patterson’s son’s bedroom. He says a black Samsung mobile phone was also located in the same bedroom. The jury is shown photographs of the mobile on shelves inside a wardrobe in the bedroom. Farrell says a tablet was also located.That page was spattered with cooking liquids. Continue reading...

Society

1 week ago Erin Patterson murder trial live: ‘highly unlikely’ that commercial mushrooms contaminated with death cap toxins, health official says

Australian woman, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder after a mushroom lunch at her house in regional Victoria in 2023. Follow live updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMandy asks Atkinson about her evidence Patterson told her the dried mushrooms may have been purchased in Oakleigh, Clayton or Mount Waverley. Atkinson agrees Patterson was not sure where she had purchased the death cap mushrooms from.Patterson’s defence lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, is cross-examining Atkinson. Mandy asks about the conversation Atkinson recalled yesterday with Conor McDermott, a doctor at the Austin hospital on 31 July 2023 – two days after the lunch. Atkinson says she rejects that McDermott said “Glen Waverley” when mentioning where some of the mushrooms may have been purchased from. Mandy says his client did not provide Atkinson a specific date for when she purchased the mushrooms used in the beef wellington. Atkinson says ...

Society

1 week ago Erin Patterson murder trial live: witnesses in mushroom trial continue giving evidence on day 20 of case

Australian woman, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder after a mushroom lunch at her house in regional Victoria in 2023. Follow live updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWe are waiting for today’s proceedings to get under way. Here’s a recap of what the jury heard on Monday from our justice and courts reporter, Nino Bucci:Welcome to day 20 of Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial. Evidence is expected to begin after 10.30am once the jurors enter the courtroom. Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her house in Leongatha, in regional Victoria, on 29 July 2023. The prosecution alleges that Patterson deliberately poisoned her lunch guests with “murderous intent” but her lawyers say the poisoning was a tragic accident. Patterson is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and her e...

Events

2 w. ago A life saved and what Erin Patterson allegedly confided to friends: week four of the mushroom lunch trial

Sole surviving lunch guest watches on as Victorian supreme court hears how hospital staff ‘thought he was going to die’ from death cap mushroom poisoningWho are Erin Patterson and the other key figures in Australia’s mushroom murders trial?Ian Wilkinson sat in the Victorian supreme court, only metres from the woman accused of trying to murder him, as one of the men who helped save his life gave evidence.Prof Stephen Warrillow, the director of intensive care at Austin Health, had already spoken about the deaths of three people from death cap mushroom poisoning and the particular characteristics of their illnesses; “rapidly progressive deterioration”, the organ failure and of it being “non-survivable”. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Erin Patterson murder trial live: mobile data shows Patterson’s device could have been in area where death cap mushrooms reportedly sighted

Australian woman, 50, faces three murder charges and one charge of attempted murder over lethal mushroom lunch. Follow live updatesPatterson’s defence lawyer, Sophie Stafford, is cross-examining McKenzie.She agrees she removed and disposed of every death cap mushroom she could find when she spotted the mushrooms. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Erin Patterson murder trial live: witness posted location of death cap mushrooms to citizen science website

Australian woman, 50, faces three murder charges and one charge of attempted murder over lethal mushroom lunch. Follow live updatesPatterson’s defence lawyer, Sophie Stafford, is cross-examining McKenzie.She agrees she removed and disposed of every death cap mushroom she could find when she spotted the mushrooms. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Mushroom trial live: witnesses to continue giving evidence on day 14 of Erin Patterson murder trial

Australian woman, 50, faces three murder charges and one charge of attempted murder over lethal mushroom lunch. Follow live updatesMcKenzie says in her role she answered calls from members of the public and professionals regarding ingestion of a range of poisonous substances including fungi.She tells the court what her role involved when someone calls the help line:We need to ascertain the circumstances, for instance it might be a toddler who has a nibble of a little brown mushroom and nothing more. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Erin Patterson murder trial live: ‘probably impossible’ for death cap mushrooms to come from supermarket as they cannot be cultivated, expert tells trial

Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her house in Leongatha. Follow live updatesKey figures in the mushroom lunch trialLawyer Sophie Stafford asks Dr Thomas May about incidents involving death cap mushroom poisoning.She points to a poisoning that was a subject of a Victorian coroner’s report from May 2024. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Distinguishing between edible and poisonous fungi is difficult, mushroom expert tells Erin Patterson trial

Victorian court hears from mycologist who identified death cap mushrooms growing near Patterson’s home in GippslandKey figures in the mushroom lunch trialAn internationally renowned mushroom expert who discovered death caps near Erin Patterson’s home has started giving his evidence in her triple murder trial.Dr Thomas May, a mycologist or scientist specialising in fungi, appeared in Patterson’s trial on Tuesday.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Erin Patterson murder trial live: fungi expert says death cap mushrooms have been mistaken for edible ones in past

Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her house in Leongatha. Follow live updatesDr Laura Muldoon says she received the image from Dr Veronica Foote at Leongatha hospital on 31 July.The photos show a pastry encasing a brown paste. There are also leftovers of the brown paste in the photo.Dried dehydrated mushrooms, possibly shiitake or porcini ... she stated she purchased them from a Chinese grocery store in Oakleigh or Glen Waverley.All her blood tests had come back and were normal and all her vitals were normal. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Erin Patterson murder trial live: jurors shown photo of remains of fateful beef wellington meal at centre of triple murder case

Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her house in Leongatha. Follow live updatesDr Laura Muldoon says she received the image from Dr Veronica Foote at Leongatha hospital on 31 July.The photos show a pastry encasing a brown paste. There are also leftovers of the brown paste in the photo.Dried dehydrated mushrooms, possibly shiitake or porcini ... she stated she purchased them from a Chinese grocery store in Oakleigh or Glen Waverley.All her blood tests had come back and were normal and all her vitals were normal. Continue reading...

Culture