Death cap mushroom: Who is Erin Patterson? Trial of woman accused of killing relatives with toxic mushrooms in beef wellington explained

The 50-year-old Australian woman is accused of cooking a fatal mushroom meal for her relatives in July 2023. Ms Patterson is charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder over a beef wellington lunch at her house in July 2023.

Prosecutors say Ms Patterson deliberately poisoned her guests to kill them. The defence told the jury the meal was a "tragedy, a terrible accident" and she did not mean to hurt anyone. The defence team say the prosecution are trying to cast her behaviour in the days after the lunch as "incriminating", but that she "panicked because she was overwhelmed".

Three people died in hospital days after the meal, including Ms Patterson's former in-laws, Don Patterson, 70, and Gail Patterson, 70, as well as Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66. A single lunch guest - local pastor Ian Wilkinson - survived, after weeks of intensive treatment in hospital.

The prosecution said today that Ian and Heather Wilkinson each ate all of the portions of beef wellington Ms Patterson served them. Gail Patterson ate half and gave the rest to her husband Donald, the prosecution said - he ate his portion and the rest of Gail's. He later vomited 30 times in the space of a few hours, he had told medical staff. Ms Patterson invited her estranged husband Simon to the lunch, but he did not attend, the court heard.

At the opening of the trial, Justice Christopher Beale explained that when the jurors start their deliberations, they will be sequestered. This means that once the jury has heard all the evidence, closing speeches, and final directions from Justice Beale, they "will be bussed to a hotel at an undisclosed location, where they will stay overnight and be bussed back to the court the next morning to continue their deliberations," he said. In the meantime, they will be able to go home at the end of each day in court.

As the defence finished up today, Judge Christopher Beale said: “The overarching issue is whether she intended to kill or cause very serious injury." Listed below are the main points that the prosecution and defence have made today.

• Erin Patterson invited her estranged husband Simon Patterson, his parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt and uncle, Ian and Heather Wilkinson, to lunch to discuss "some medical issues that she had", prosecutors said, and at lunch she told them she had cancer. All attended except her husband Simon, who pulled out the day before. Three of the guests at the lunch later died from death cap mushroom poisoning.
• Prosecutors alleged that Ms Patterson lied about having cancer, using it as a pretence to have the adults at lunch without Ms Patterson's children present - the defence denied this and said Ms Patterson did have cancer.
• The prosecution said Ms Patterson had posted online about using a food dehydrator to cook mushrooms, and wrote she had been "hiding powdered mushrooms in everything", the prosecution said. The prosecution also said Ms Patterson's fingerprints were found on a food dehydrator she was seen on CCTV dumping after the lunch. The dehydrator tested positive for death cap mushrooms, the jury was told
• The prosecution alleged Ms Patterson lied about buying the dried mushrooms from an Asian grocery store, and that mobile phone data suggests she travelled to where death cap mushrooms grew.
• The defence argued that "what happened was a tragedy, a terrible accident" and Ms Patterson did not intend to hurt anyone. Ms Patterson's behaviour is being portrayed as "incriminating" by the prosecution, the defence said - but she "panicked" after her guests became ill: "Might people say or do things that are not well thought out... and might make them look bad?".