Police had accused Erin Patterson of attempting to poison her husband multiple times before she served a deadly mushroom meal that killed three people. File Photo by James Ross/EPA-EFE
Authorities in Australia have said Erin Patterson attempted to poison her husband on multiple occasions before serving a deadly mushroom meal that killed three people.
Police report that Erin Patterson, found guilty last month on three counts of murder and one for attempted murder, had allegedly attempted to poison Simon Patterson on at least three separate occasions, and possibly a fourth.
According to the allegations, Erin Patterson served Simon Patterson penne in 2021, chicken korma curry in May of 2022 and a vegetable wrap in September of 2022, and he alleged that each dish was likely tainted.
Erin had originally been charged with three additional counts of attempted murder against Simon in relation to those allegations, but those charges were dropped on the evening before her murder trial after a judge ruled the charges regarding Simon must be split and tried during a separate trial.
The two separated in 2015 but never divorced, and Simon Patterson said during pretrial hearings he had believed they were on amicable terms. However, he also explained that he was hospitalized both times after eating the penne and the curry. He fell into a coma during that second hospital stay, which required having a part of his bowel was surgically removed to save his life.
He said in the hearings he was hospitalized a third time after the vegetable wrap, at which point a family friend and doctor suggested Simon Patterson keep a food diary to try to discover what kept making him sick.
Simon Patterson returned to that doctor in February of 2023 and alleged his wife was possibly trying to poison him after giving him cookies that he believed had been laced with antifreeze.
Once the charges involving Simon Patterson were dropped, no information regarding Simon Patterson’s allegations could be included in the trial that saw Erin convicted.
Erin Patterson was found guilty in July of serving beef Wellington tainted with toxic mushrooms to Gail and Don Patterson, the parents of her ex-husband Simon Patterson, as well as to Simon’s aunt Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian in 2023.
