BBCThe only surviving guest of the deadly beef wellington lunch at the heart of a high-profile Australian court case says he and his wife had been “very happy” to get an invitation to the gathering.
Ian Wilkinson was left seriously ill after the meal, which led to the deaths of his wife and two other relatives.
Erin Patterson – who is charged with the murder of three relatives and the attempted murder of another, has pleaded not guilty and her defence team says she “panicked” after unintentionally serving poison to family members she loved.
Three people died in hospital in the days after the meal.
The victims included Ms Patterson’s former in-laws, Don Patterson, 70, and Gail Patterson, 70, as well as Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66.
Mr Wilkinson, a local pastor and Heather’s husband, survived after weeks of treatment in hospital.
‘I ate the entire meal’
He told the packed courtroom that Ms Patterson had plated “all of the food”, which included mashed potato, green beans, and beef wellington.
“Each person had an individual serve, it was very much like a pasty,” he said. “It was a pastry case and when we cut into it, there was steak and mushrooms. It was completely pastry encased.”
Mr Wilkinson also said that Gail and Heather picked up four grey plates with the food and set them on the table, while Ms Patterson ate from an “orangey tan” coloured plate.
“Erin picked up the odd plate and carried it to the table. She took it to her place at the table.”
He was shown a picture of the dining room table on an iPad and he marked where each of the five people at the lunch had been seated.
He said that both he and Heather “ate the entire meal”, while Don ate his meal along with half of the beef wellington that Gail did not finish.
“There was talk about husbands helping their wives out.”
He said Ms Patterson was “definitely” eating but couldn’t say “with certainty” how much she ate.
There was a cake for dessert as well as the fruit platter but Mr Wilkinson told the court that not much was eaten because everyone was full from the main course.
‘She seemed like a normal person to me’
Asked about his relationship with Ms Patterson he said: “I would say our relationship was friendly, amicable. It did not have much depth. We were more like acquaintances. We didn’t see a great deal of each other.”
“She just seemed like a normal person to me,” he added. “When we met things were friendly. We never had arguments or disputes. She just seemed like an ordinary person.”
“Heather would have seen Erin more than me, talked to her more than me but we did not consider that the relationship was close,” he said.
The invitation was made to Heather Wilkinson at church, a week or two earlier, Mr Wilkinson recalled.
“We were very happy to be invited. It seemed like maybe our relationship was going to improve,” he said.
“We were very happy to accept.”
The court was shown a copy of Mrs Wilkinson’s diary where she had written, “Erin for lunch” with a pencil.
Written in blue ink: “12:00” – which Mr Wilkinson said was the time they were to be picked up by Don and Gail Patterson. Another word “fruit” in the diary referred to a fruit platter they were taking to the lunch, he said.
‘A tragic accident’
Ms Patterson, wearing a light pink striped shirt sat emotionless as Mr Wilkinson began his evidence.
Last week, her lawyer said there was no intent to hurt anyone and the deaths were the result of a tragic accident – though many of the facts are not in dispute and it is accepted that she lied several times to police.
On Monday the jury heard from members of a true crime Facebook group that Ms Patterson was part of.
One of the witnesses, Christine Hunt, was asked about Erin Patterson’s relationship with her estranged husband Simon.
She told the court that the words “controlling” and “coercive” had been used by Ms Patterson.
Another member of the same group. Daniela Barkley, told the court that Erin Patterson had been “excited” about buying a dehydrator, and the jury was shown several images shared with the group, which showed mushrooms drying on the metal racks of the appliance.
In a text message shown to the court, Ms Patterson said “I’ve been hiding powdered mushrooms in everything” – including recipes such as brownies so her children couldn’t tell they were eating them.
The court also heard that in July 2023, she’d asked the group for advice on cooking a beef Wellington, the dish that was served to the four guests at that deadly lunch later the same month.
