The court heard that the convicted three-person murderer Erin Patterson tried to repeatedly poison her husband, including her claiming her daughter baked his cookies.
The Australian woman was convicted of murdering three relatives last month – trying to kill another and killing another with poisonous mushroom beef Wellington.
The 50-year-old was initially charged with three counts of attempted murder against her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, but the charges were dropped on the eve of her trial.
Details of the allegations that Patterson denied were suppressed to protect the proceedings, but are now available for the first time.
The three died in the hospital a few days after lunch on July 29, 2023: Patterson’s former in-laws, Don Patterson, 70, and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66.
Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, pastor Ian Wilkinson, recovered after several weeks of treatment in the hospital. Mr. Patterson was also invited to lunch but was withdrawn at the last minute.
Pretrial hearings are standard before many trials, allowing parties and judges to determine which evidence is acceptable – or allow evidence to be presented to a jury. In this case, his evidence on the matter was excluded as the allegations related to Mr. Patterson were abandoned.
During last year’s lengthy hearing, he detailed his suspected act as a years-long campaign aimed at killing him with contaminated food.
The court heard that a poisoning attempt made Mr. Patterson sick, he was in a coma for several weeks and his family was told to say goodbye twice.
He told the court that Ms Patterson tried to kill him with curry, wrap, Bolognese pasta, and even used chocolate chip cookies she claimed her daughter made.
The court heard that he became suspicious and began taking notes, realizing that he was often sick while feeding him.
Mr. Patterson shared his suspicions with several relatives—including his father, Don Patterson, and then a GP, but did not go further.
He said he thought he was the only person in danger – which is why he refused to attend lunch.
However, when his parents desperately fell ill, Mr. Patterson pulled his relatives to the hospital church and told them that he suspected his estranged wife had tried to poison him for years.
Police believe that at least once rat poison may have been used.
