Mushroom murder case linked to Mansfield

The nation’s most notorious murder case has a Mansfield Shire link, with pre-trial evidence heard in court revealing Erin Patterson’s husband fell gravely ill after a camping trip to Howqua. Details of the alleged incident emerged last week after a suppression order was lifted on testimony from those hearings. Simon Patterson gave evidence during pre-trial hearings that he and his then-estranged wife camped at Howqua, in Victoria’s High Country, between May 25 and 27, 2022 — more than a year before the infamous Leongatha “mushroom lunch” that claimed the lives of three of his relatives. Mr Patterson told the court that on the second night at Howqua, the pair shared a chicken korma curry prepared by Erin. "While Erin was preparing food I was getting the fire going so I didn’t watch her prepare it," he testified. He said he became unwell and was assessed at Mansfield Hospital before being discharged that afternoon. Days later, his condition worsened and he was rushed to Melbourne’s Monash Hospital, where he fell into a coma and required life-saving surgery. The allegations about the Howqua trip formed part of three attempted murder charges relating to Simon Patterson, which prosecutors later dropped before Erin Patterson’s trial in Morwell. In pre-trial hearings, Mr Patterson alleged he fell ill on four separate occasions — after meals including penne bolognese, the Howqua chicken korma and a vegetable wrap — while prosecutors told the court an article about the rat poison barium carbonate was found on Erin Patterson’s computer. In July this year, a jury found Erin Patterson guilty of murdering her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Heather’s husband Ian, after serving a beef Wellington containing death cap mushrooms at her Leongatha home in July 2023. The jury never heard about Simon Patterson’s earlier illnesses, including the Howqua incident, because those charges were severed from the main trial. Prosecutors did not proceed with a second trial on the Howqua and other allegations, and no findings were made against Patterson in relation to her husband’s illnesses.

Mushroom murder case linked to Mansfield

Emergency services grants keeping shire fire safe

Merrijig fire brigade celebrates 100 years

First fire restrictions announced for the shire

Local ambo response times improve

New paramedics arrive in Mansfield as part of regional intake

Rufous Whistler – arrival of a summer songbird

Bombers go back-to-back in A grade

“No stone unturned” – Police committed to the long-haul in manhunt

Start your engines, Wilby Drags are back

Most popular stories