Mushroom murderer tried to kill husband with pasta, cookies and curry, court was told
Convicted triple-murderer Erin Patterson allegedly tried to repeatedly poison her husband, including with cookies she claimed their daughter had baked him, a court was told.
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A family friend who was a doctor, Christopher Ford, suggested Mr Patterson start a food diary so they could try to figure out what was making him so sick.
"I couldn't understand why these things kept on happening to him in such a way that he had essentially three near-death experiences," Dr Ford told the court.
Mr Patterson returned to see him in February 2023, five months before the fatal lunch, revealing he'd come to believe his estranged wife was responsible.
He told Dr Ford about a batch of cookies supposedly baked by his daughter, which he feared were treats tainted – possibly with antifreeze chemicals - by his wife, who had called repeatedly to check whether he had eaten any.
The court would hear investigators never figured out what Patterson had allegedly been feeding him, though they suspected rat poison may have been used on at least one occasion, and had found a file on Patterson's computer with information about the toxin.
After this discovery, Mr Patterson changed his medical power of attorney, removing his wife, and quietly told a handful of family members of his fears.
The court heard that his father Don Patterson responded diplomatically, but his sister Anna Terrington told the pre-trial hearings she had believed her brother, and was anxious when she learned about the lunch Patterson had planned.
Ms Terrington called her parents the night before to warn them.
"Dad said, 'No, we'll be ok'," she said.
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Ruth Dubois, the Wilkinsons' daughter, told the pre-trial hearings Simon Patterson had assembled the group to tell them he suspected his previous grave illnesses were the work of his wife.
"[He said] he had stopped eating food that Erin had prepared, because he suspected Erin had been messing with it," she said.
"He was really sorry that he hadn't told our family before this… but he thought he was the only person she was targeting, and that they'd be safe."
One alleged attempt left Simon Patterson in a coma, with his family twice told to say their goodbyes.
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