Poisoner who murdered family with spiked beef wellington makes outrageous prison demands

A convicted murderer who killed family members with a poisoned beef wellington spent the length of her trial making a series of wild complaints about her life in prison.

Erin Patterson complained about conditions in her cell, saying she was denied special privileges granted to her by the authorities. The 50-year-old was found guilty by an Australian jury of murdering three relatives with a toxic mushroom lunch.

She was also found guilty of the attempted murder of the sole guest who survived the beef Wellington meal in 2023. Patterson was held in remand at the maximum security prison Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, while awaiting her trial. However, she was moved to the Morwell Police Station 150km east of Melbourne for five days a week during her trial.

The police station is located next door to the court where her case was tried in front of jurors.

The defendant, though, was not impressed by the facilities in her cell at the police station and launched a complaint via her barrister.

A day before the jury in her trial was selected, Patterson was moved to the Morwell Police Station.

When she got there, she found there was no doona or pillow in her cell - items she claims she was entitled to be provided with.

Colin Mandy SC told trial judge Justice Christopher Beale: ""She had an agreement with Corrections about the things that she would be permitted to take into her cell and last night, for whatever reason, that wasn't the case.

"She'd agreed with Corrections that she could have a doona and a pillow and she wasn't given those things.

"At some stage she was given a blanket, but she spent the night cold and awake, because she was cold, and she can't operate like that."

Patterson said she raised the ire with a custody officer, but was told "we're busy" and "she wasn't going to get special treatment".

Her barrister also complained she was denied access to her own laptop and charger, which he argued she needed to help get through the "massive" police brief.

Mandy added: "She requires special treatment so that we can do our job properly, so that she can provide us with proper instructions so that she's not uncomfortable."

Three people died in hospital in the days after the toxic mushroommeal on 29 July 2023: Patterson's former in-laws, Don Patterson, 70, and Gail Patterson, 70, as well as Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66.

Local pastor Ian Wilkinson - Heather's husband - recovered after weeks of treatment in hospital.

Her estranged partner Simon Patterson had also been invited to the lunch but pulled out at the last minute