In her own voice: Court releases Erin Patterson’s police interview

In a small police station in South Gippsland days after a poisoned lunch, Erin Patterson sat down with homicide squad detectives.

It would be the first of two interviews with detectives called in to investigate just what happened at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023 – but the only one played to a Supreme Court jury that later found her guilty of murder.

“All right. Erin, do you agree the time is now 4.41pm by my watch?” Detective Leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall asks.

“Could you please state your full name and address for me?”

Patterson was then given a warning that she did not have to say anything, but anything she did say could be used in evidence in court.

Almost two years later, at the Morwell courthouse, a Supreme Court jury was shown a video extract of that very police interview.

On Friday, that video was publicly released for the first time.

“Do you own a dehydrator?” asked Eppingstall.

“No,” Patterson replied. “I might’ve had one years ago.”

In fact, she did own a dehydrator. A black Sunbeam one she purchased from a local store in April 2023 and later used to dry death cap mushrooms she had picked in the wild, before lacing beef Wellingtons with her find.

“Obviously, we’ve got concerns in relation to these mushrooms and where they’ve come from,” said Eppingstall. “Is that something you’ve done in the past, foraging for mushrooms?”

“Never,” Patterson said.

The next topic police traversed was Patterson’s relationship with her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, and his family. Also present in the room was Detective Senior Constable David Martin-Alcaide, another member of the homicide squad.

Eppingstall said he wanted to understand just why the mother of two had her ex’s parents and his uncle and aunt over for lunch on July 29, 2023.

“Because I’ve got no other family, so they’re the only support I’ve got. They’ve always been really good to me … and I want to maintain those relationships with them. My grandparents are all gone. They’re the only family that I’ve got,” the killer replied.

They went on to speak about the medical treatment, including a drip Patterson was given while in hospital, which cookbook she used to help make the beef Wellingtons, and the devices detectives seized from her home.

Donald Patterson was still alive at the time, having undergone a liver transplant on August 4. He died hours after the police interview, about 11.30pm on August 5, 2023.

Patterson said yes when asked if she knew why she was being questioned.

“Following eating at your house, Donald, Ian, Gail and Heather all became so ill that they ultimately ended up in the intensive care unit at both the Dandenong Hospital and moved to the Austin Hospital, all right,” Eppingstall said. “Following that, they had a – a deterioration in their condition and that they became so ill that their livers have failed, all right.”

Patterson told the officers: “I’m sure you understand too that, like, I’ve never been in a situation like this before. And I’ve been very, very helpful with the Health Department through the week because I wanted to help that side of things.

“I’ve given them as much information as they’ve asked for, and offered up all the food and all the information about where the food came from.”

But she hadn’t. This, and other lies recorded in the police interview, would later be used to prosecute her for murder.

She also lied about the fact that her children had eaten leftovers of the meal with the pastry and mushrooms scraped off, telling Eppingstall this is why she helped police locate the lunch leftovers in her rubbish bin.

“When I went to the hospital and they said they were concerned that everyone ate some contaminated food, I said, ‘Well, there’s the leftovers in the bin. You can have it,’” she told police.

“Feel free to look through it.”

By now, Patterson had been in police custody since 11.30am, almost six hours.

At 5.30pm, the interview was suspended. Patterson walked free, uncharged, before being arrested in November 2023 and, in July this year, convicted of murder.

“All right. Any questions at the moment?” Eppingstall asked on August 5, 2023.

“No,” Patterson replied.

“Yeah. All right. I’m gonna suspend the interview now.”

The release of the footage comes a month after a jury found 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, pastor Ian Wilkinson, after feeding them a lunch laced with death cap mushrooms on July 29, 2023.

On Friday, Justice Christopher Beale granted a media application to release the footage. Patterson’s barrister Colin Mandy argued against the release, telling the judge it could deter others from participating in the recording of interviews with police.

Beale rejected this, and said its release would support fair and accurate media reporting, and allow the public to draw their own inferences from Patterson’s answers and demeanour.

“The victims and victims’ family do not oppose its release and publication,” Beale said.

The media were also successful in opposing a suppression order on information heard in pretrial but never put before the jury.

“Open justice is a fundamental concern of our criminal justice system,” Beale said.

During a marathon 10-week trial, the jury heard Patterson invited her in-laws and the Wilkinsons to her home that day to falsely tell them she had cancer and ask for their advice on breaking the news to her two children.

Her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, had been invited, but withdrew from the event the night before.

The matter is expected to return to court later this month.

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