‘Not guilty, your honour,’ pleads woman charged with beef Wellington lunch murder

The Australian woman who cooked a deadly mushroom lunch that killed three elderly guests has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Erin Trudi Patterson is charged with the murders of Gail Patterson and Don Patterson, both 70, who fell ill hours after eating a beef Wellington at their daughter-in-law’s home last July.

The 49-year-old is also accused of killing Heather Wilkinson, Gail’s sister, and the attempted murder of Mrs Wilkinson’s husband, Ian, who survived damage to his liver after receiving an organ transplant.

It will be alleged that she knowingly mixed toxic fungi – believed to be the “death cap” variety found in the wild – into their lunch. Mushrooms are a key ingredient in beef Wellington, used to make the duxelles between the dish’s meat and pastry layers.

Ms Patterson was also charged with four counts of attempting to murder her estranged husband Simon Patterson, who had previously been hospitalised with a stomach illness.

Police plan to present evidence she allegedly tried to kill Mr Patterson once in 2021 in the couple’s hometown, south-east of Melbourne, and twice in 2022, including in the Victorian mountain holiday region of Howqua and in Wilsons Promontory, a camping and hiking destination.

Ms Patterson also allegedly intended to poison him at the family lunch, which he was invited to but did not attend.

Appearing from a women’s prison via video link, Ms Patterson was on Tuesday morning asked to tell the Latrobe magistrate’s court how she intended to plead to the charges.

“Not guilty, your honour,” she said.

The mother-of-two has previously vowed her innocence, telling the media she was “devastated” by the loss of her children’s grandparents.

In a shift in Ms Patterson’s legal strategy, her barrister Colin Mandy SC, told the court she had opted to “fast-track” the case to the Supreme Court in Melbourne.

The method – introduced during the Covid pandemic to address backlogs in the court system – allows homicide suspects to skip a committal hearing where a magistrate decides whether the evidence is strong enough for a conviction.

Her lawyers had previously indicated that they wanted the magistrate to test the police’s case before trial. But that meant Ms Patterson would have spent at least 15 months on remand.

Ms Patterson was committed to stand trial in the Victorian Supreme Court and will appear for a directions hearing later in May.

She has not applied to be released on bail during any of her four court appearances.