Lessons in Mushrooms

Did Erin Patterson deliberately lure her husband’s family for lunch with lies about her health so she could kill them? That’s the accusation that has now been put to her. In today’s episode Caroline and Wayne have got all the details along with how she’s also accused of weighing death cap mushrooms to enable her to calculate the exact dose to kill.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today Caroline and Wayne have the evidence from day three of Erin Patterson in the witness box giving evidence in her defence. She admitted that she dumped the food dehydrator after her husband Simon asked her if she’d used it to poison his parents. She said she panicked about what he was accusing her of and that her children might be taken away. She also admitted she lied about having cancer treatment because she was too ashamed to say she was really having gastric band surgery. And she says she feared that death cap mushrooms may have accidentally got mixed up with shop bought ones and then added to the beef wellingtons to add flavour.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode Caroline and Wayne have the moment Erin Patterson accepted there were death cap mushrooms in the beef wellingtons she served which killed three members of her husband’s family. The admission came as she gave evidence for a second day in her trial. She also says she became interested in foraging during Covid. Plus she admits she was never diagnosed with cancer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this emergency update episode Caroline and Wayne have the moment Erin Patterson started giving evidence in her defence. For the first time she spoke of her relationship with her estranged husband and her in-laws, and she said she had been fighting a "never ending battle" with self-esteem her entire adult life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode Caroline and Wayne hear the evidence of the police lead investigator challenged by Erin Paterson’s defence team. We also have more of the Facebook messages she was sending to her friends in the True Crime group chat. Plus we hear how she was consistently worried about her health. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode we have, for the first time, the words of Erin Patterson. In her first police interview in the days after the lunch she lied by saying she didn’t own a food dehydrator when she had dumped it at the tip hours before. She also said she loved her in-laws because they were the only family she had left. We also heard evidence that she was left alone with her mobile phone during the police search at her home, and at around the same time, the data was wiped from it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode Caroline and Wayne have the messages Erin Patterson allegedly sent to her Facebook friends about her in-laws. In the messages she calls her husband Simon a “deadbeat” and expresses her frustration that his parents won’t intervene in her dispute with him over money. We also have the details of the final hours and days of Don, Gail and Heather and the miraculous recovery of Ian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode Caroline and Wayne hear from a poisons expert who posted pictures of death cap mushrooms growing a few miles from Erin Patterson’s home. And we have the evidence from a mobile phone expert who says her mobile phone was recorded in the same location weeks later. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode Caroline and Wayne have the moment a juror was dismissed from the trial after being accused of breaking the rules. We also have more about mushrooms - of course - and if foragers can tell a toxic one from an edible one. Plus we have more on the rows Erin and Simon Patterson were having about money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today Caroline and Wayne have some Lessons in Mushrooms from an expert known as Funkey Tom who gave evidence to the trial. He told the jury what the distinctive characteristics are of Death Cap Mushrooms.  We also have the evidence of the Public Health expert who first asked Erin Patterson if she had foraged for the mushrooms she served in the beef wellingtons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices