https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-03/erin-patterson-mushroom-murder-trial-simo...The first week of Erin Patterson's mushroom murder trial
outlines the decision facing a jury
By court reporter Kristian Silva
Topic:Courts
Sat 3 May
When police turned up to Erin Patterson's house, they began looking through the rubbish for a leftover beef Wellington.
An officer walked to an outside bin, put on some gloves, and started fishing inside.
"The bin had approximately three bags piled on top of each other," crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC told the Supreme Court in Morwell this week.
"The leftovers, which looked like a meat-filled pastry, were in the bottom of the bottom bag."
As a packed courtroom watched on, pictures of the stale-looking remnants were flashed up on the screens.
What was initially thought to be the source of food poisoning, then became a suspected murder weapon.
Reduced to its simplest form, the jury in Ms Patterson's trial will have to decide whether a beef Wellington cooked in her kitchen represents a terrible accident, or the ultimate act of betrayal.
According to prosecutors, Ms Patterson carefully crafted a plan to lure her in-laws to her home on July 29, 2023.