3 h. ago How a family’s beef wellington lunch ended with three dead and a mother on trial for murder

The key question in the Australian murder trial of Erin Patterson was how fatal death cap mushrooms got into the meal, Rachel Clun writes

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54 h. ago Beef wellington 'poisoner' accused of 14 'incriminating' actions as in

Prosecutors allege Erin Patterson, 66, deliberately served a beef wellington laced with deadly mushrooms to her in-laws - while her defence insists it was a tragic accident

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7 d. ago Accidental foraging, reasonable doubt and ‘lies upon lies’: Erin Patterson jury hears week of closing submissions in triple

Jurors must find accused not guilty if ‘reasonable possibility’ mushroom poisoning was an accident, defence says, while prosecution points to ‘calculated deception’What the Erin Patterson jury heard in the eighth week of her triple-murder trialColin Mandy SC, Erin Patterson’s barrister in her triple-murder trial, was into the final minute of a closing submission that spanned three days when he started repeating one phrase, almost like a mantra, over and over.It was the last time the jury would hear from anyone in the case other than Justice Christopher Beale, a coda after the prosecution’s closing argument and evidence from more than 50 witnesses. Continue reading...

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9 d. ago Australia mushroom trial live: ‘Absurd’ and ‘illogical’ propositions disputed as Erin Patterson’s defence concludes

Accused, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder over a beef wellington lunch she served to in-lawsDefence turns to argument about children being testedMandy turns to the prosecution’s argument about Patterson’s reluctance to have her children medically tested. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago Australia mushroom trial live: ‘Absurd’ and ‘illogical’ propositions refuted as Erin Patterson’s defence concludes

Accused, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder over a beef wellington lunch she served to in-lawsDefence turns to argument about children being testedMandy turns to the prosecution’s argument about Patterson’s reluctance to have her children medically tested. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago Australia mushroom trial live: Erin Patterson would have dumped or reset main phone if she had planned ‘cold, calculated murders’

Accused, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder over a beef wellington lunch she served to in-lawsDefence turns to argument about children being testedMandy turns to the prosecution’s argument about Patterson’s reluctance to have her children medically tested. Continue reading...

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9 d. ago Australia mushroom trial live: defence set to conclude closing address in murder trial of Erin Patterson

Accused, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder over a beef wellington lunch she served to in-lawsMandy says the prosecution argued Patterson’s phone records showed she did not simply go home and then return to the hospital after she discharged herself.Prosecution said the records were consistent with Paterson travelling south-west of Leongatha. Continue reading...

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1 week ago What are death cap mushrooms, symptoms of mushroom poisoning and can you get them in the UK?

Death cap mushrooms are deadly, even in small amounts 🍄

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1 week ago Erin Patterson thought cancer lie ‘would die’ with lunch guests, prosecution says

Prosecution in Erin Patterson’s triple-murder trial outlined four deceptions at the heart of their case

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1 week ago Erin Patterson trial hears of ‘four calculated deceptions’ at heart of mushroom lunch case as closing address begins

Prosecutor also tells court Patterson lied about cancer to lunch guests because she thought ‘her lie would die with them’Erin Patterson trial LIVEWho are Erin Patterson and the other key figures in Australia’s mushroom trial?Four calculated deceptions are at the heart of Erin Patterson’s triple-murder case, the prosecution has claimed in its closing address to the jury, including a lie about cancer the accused hoped would “die with” her lunch guests.On Monday, Nanette Rogers SC spent day 32 of the trial closing the prosecution case, outlining these four deceptions: Patterson’s fabricated cancer claim; the “lethal doses” of death cap mushrooms “secreted” in home-cooked beef wellingtons; Patterson’s attempts to make it seem she also suffered death cap mushroom poisoning; and the “sustained cover-up she embarked upon to conceal the truth”.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Australia mushroom trial live: Erin Patterson intended to kill lunch guests and thought cancer lie ‘would die with them’, prosecution says

Victorian woman, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one of attempted murder following a fatal beef wellington lunch in Leongatha in 2023. Follow liveTears, disagreements and dried mushrooms: how Erin Patterson responded over eight days in the witness boxWho are Erin Patterson and the other key figures in Australia’s mushroom trial?Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastRogers says Patterson chose the meal for the lunch and was responsible for selecting the ingredients.Rogers says the recipe from the RecipeTin Eats book, which Patterson told police she used for the beef wellington did not call for “multiple individual” pasties. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago The NINE questions that will decide the fate of the mum of two accused of murdering her in

Four elderly family members were joining her lunch. But within a week of this supposedly happy occasion, three of her guests were dead and the fourth in hospital, fighting for his life.

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2 w. ago Erin Patterson denies all charges as triple murder trial testimony concludes

Accused maintains fatal mushroom lunch unintentional

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2 w. ago Australia mushroom trial live: evidence concludes in Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial after weeks of testimony from witnesses

Victorian woman, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one of attempted murder after a fatal beef wellington lunch in Leongatha in 2023. Follow liveWho are Erin Patterson and the other key figures in Australia’s mushroom trial?Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastProsecutor Nanette Rogers SC turns to evidence about factory resets performed on the mobile referred to as “Phone B”. The court previously heard four resets – one in February 2023 and three in August 2023 – were performed on the phone that Erin Patterson provided to police during the search on 5 August 2023. Rogers says one of these resets were done when she was left alone to call a lawyer while police searched Patterson’s Leongatha home. Patterson rejects this and says she phoned a lawyer at 2pm. Rogers says Patterson performed the three factory resets after the lunch to “conceal” the contents on Phone B. Patterson rejects this. Rogers then turns to her final points in the cross-ex...

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2 w. ago ‘The perfect dish for them’: Erin Patterson explains why she included dried mushrooms in fatal lunch

Triple-murder accused also denies foraging death caps hours before buying food dehydrator as trial continuesWho are Erin Patterson and the other key figures in Australia’s mushroom trial?Erin Patterson has denied leading health officials on a “wild goose chase”, and that she foraged death cap mushrooms two hours before buying a food dehydrator, a Victorian court has heard.Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to poisoning four lunch guests with beef wellington served at her house in Leongatha, Victoria, on 29 July 2023. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago Erin Patterson denies foraging death cap mushrooms hours before buying food dehydrator, murder trial hears

Murder accused also tells Victorian supreme court that she thought beef wellingtons were ‘the perfect dish’ for dried mushroomsWho are Erin Patterson and the other key figures in Australia’s mushroom trial?Erin Patterson has denied leading health officials on a “wild goose chase”, and that she foraged death cap mushrooms two hours before buying a food dehydrator, a Victorian court has heard.Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to poisoning four lunch guests with beef wellington served at her house in Leongatha, Victoria, on 29 July 2023. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago ‘You knew how suspicious it would look’: Erin Patterson makes series of denials in tense cross

Patterson also tells triple murder trial she’s ‘puzzled’ clinic she says she had an appointment for a gastric bypass with offers no such surgeryWho are Erin Patterson and the other key figures in Australia’s mushroom trial?Erin Patterson says she is “puzzled” that a clinic in which she said she had an appointment for a gastric bypass offers no such surgery, and denies lying about making herself vomit in the hours immediately after the beef wellington lunch, a court has heard.In her sixth day in the witness box, Patterson was repeatedly asked under cross-examination by prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC whether she was lying about the deadly lunch and other parts of her evidence before her triple-murder trial. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Australia mushroom trial live: Erin Patterson says she felt anxious at hospital that doctors suspected death cap mushroom poisoning

Victorian woman, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one of attempted murder following a fatal beef wellington lunch in Leongatha in 2023. Follow liveProsecutor Nanette Rogers SC says Erin Patterson’s son gave evidence that she did not tell him she was sick on the day of the lunch.“I don’t know if I did or I didn’t,” Patterson says.The first thing he said to me was something like: I’ve got a sore tummy.How could I? It’s vomit. Unless you can see a bean or a piece of corn. Continue reading...

Society

3 w. ago Foraged mushrooms, fatal doses and food binges: the week Erin Patterson told her story to triple murder trial

Accused told court the moment she realised she could be blamed for harming her in-laws came before they even diedAustralia news live: latest politics updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIn Erin Patterson’s telling, the moment she realised she could be blamed for harming her in-laws came before they even died.According to evidence Patterson gave at her triple-murder trial this week, she was in a Monash hospital room alone with her estranged husband, Simon, after their two children had left to buy food from a vending machine, when he asked her: “Is that how you poisoned my parents, using that dehydrator?”Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

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3 w. ago Erin Patterson denies knowingly preparing death cap mushrooms in dehydrator she later dumped

Prosecutor says Patterson tried to hide evidence, but she denies knowing mushrooms were toxic

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