Woman suspected of killing three people with toxic mushrooms 'faked cancer diagnosis to lure them to meal'

A mother accused of murdering her estranged husband's parents and aunt by feeding them poisonous mushrooms lured them to the meal by faking a cancer diagnosis, prosecutors claim.

Erin Patterson is on trial over the deaths of her parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail Patterson's sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, in July 2023. The 50-year-old, from the state of Victoria in southern Australia, has also been charged with the attempted murder of Mrs Wilkinson's husband Reverend Ian Wilkinson.

All four fell ill after eating a lunch of beef Wellington, mashed potatoes and green beans at Patterson's home in the town of Leongatha, the court has been told. Prosecutors said Patterson knowingly laced the beef pastry dish with deadly death cap mushrooms, also known as Amanita phalloides, at her home.

Patterson denies the charges. Her husband Simon Patterson, with whom she has two children, was also invited to the lunch and initially accepted but later declined.

The jury was told on Tuesday that prosecutors had dropped three charges that Patterson had attempted to murder her husband, who she has been separated from since 2015. In the trial's opening arguments that began on Wednesday, prosecutor Nanette Rogers said Patterson fabricated a cancer diagnosis and hosted the lunch on the pretence of discussing the best way to tell her two children about the illness.

"The accused said that it was important that the children were not present for the lunch," Ms Rogers said. She also told the court: "It is the prosecution case that the accused deliberately poisoned (the victims) with murderous intent.

"The prosecution will not be suggesting that there was a particular motive to do what she did." Defending Patterson, barrister Colin Mandy told the court the deaths were a "terrible accident.