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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Adeshola Ore and Jordyn Beazley

Australia’s mushroom murders trial: who are Erin Patterson and the other key figures?

A composite of Erin Patterson and her house in Leongatha, Victoria.
Australian woman Erin Patterson (right) has pleaded not guilty to murdering and attempting to murder members of her husband Simon Patterson’s family with a 2023 mushroom lunch at her home in Leongatha, Victoria. Gail Patterson, Don Patterson and Heather Wilkinson all died, while Ian Wilkinson survived after spending weeks in hospital. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

A fatal family lunch in regional Victoria is at the centre of a high-profile murder trial that is under way in the state’s supreme court.

Erin Patterson is accused of murdering her estranged husband Simon Patterson’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister and Simon’s aunt, Heather Wilkinson, by feeding them a meal of beef wellington laced with death cap mushrooms in July 2023.

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