5 months Ago
The prosecution had introduced photos from Patterson's phone showing wild mushrooms being weighed on kitchen scales. When asked if she was taking a lethal dose, she refused to answer, claiming instead that she probably took the photos herself although she didn't think the mushrooms were harmful, according to police.
Lunch Takes Deadly Turn Over Alleged Deception
The fatal meal was attended by Donald and Gail Patterson, who were married and 70, and Gail's sister, Heather, 66. All three fell sick soon after the lunch and died later. Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, a vicar with a local church, also became critically ill and spent weeks in an induced coma, but he, too, eventually recovered. (An ex-husband of Patterson's, Simon, with whom she had two children, was invited but canceled, at the last minute.)
Patterson told the group she had cancer to entice them to her home, prosecutors said. Under cross-examination, she reluctantly morphed the cancer story as "dishonest," but she's since learned "sympathy is a form of love," she said with regret over her fabrication.
Lies and Proof Bring More Questions
During questioning, Patterson confessed to lying to the police and to doctors that he had not foraged for mushrooms and did not own a food dehydrator. But a dehydrator later found in a dump site tested positive for spores of the lethal fungi. CCTV footage captured Patterson herself, disposing of the device. She called her lie a "stupid reflex" and "a panicked lie."
The high-profile trial will proceed with more cross-examination of Erin Patterson. The trial is expected to last at least two weeks.
