<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mushroom cook Erin Patterson felt her estranged husband had been "isolating her" from his family before she served up a poisonous lunch that killed her former in-laws, a jury has been told.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Patterson, 50, has been charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder over the July 29, 2023 meal but she has pleaded not guilty and claims the meal was a terrible accident.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Her estranged husband Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail, and his aunty Heather Wilkinson all died in hospital from death cap mushroom poisoning after eating a toxic beef Wellington.</span><br/><br/><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/victoria-push-for-parents-who-defame-teachers-online-to-be-fined-1000/055401bb-af80-4b6b-848f-5e118007056b" rel="" target="" title="Push for parents who defame teachers online to be fined $1000"><strong><span>Push for parents who defame teachers online to be fined $1000</span></strong></a></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The only survivor from the lunch was Heather's husband Ian.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A child protection worker gave evidence on Thursday to Patterson's trial, in regional Victoria, where she detailed her visit with the mother-of-two while she was in hospital two days after the lunch.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Katrina Cripps said she spoke to Patterson, her two children and Simon at Monash Hospital.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/city-of-sydney-council-blocks-new-maccas-in-redfern/6dca88c7-da33-467a-81f0-5ba622c3f09a"><strong><span>Council blocks new McDonald's in inner Sydney after local uproar</span></strong></a></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/mushroom-cook-felt-isolated-from-former-in-laws/8842b549-2668-4ef5-99cc-bd0c9e5ce043" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Cripps said to the jury Patterson told her that her relationship with Simon had changed in September 2022, after she asked to receive child support from him and that he became "nasty towards her".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"She said that Don and Gail had been like the parents she hadn't had, her parents had died quite some time ago," she told the jury.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"She cared and loved them very much and felt very supported by them but that relationship had also changed recently as well.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"She felt isolated from them."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Asked by prosecutor Sarah Lenthall what she meant by isolated, Cripps said "she felt that he was isolating her from (his) family".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Family events he would go to normally, she wasn't going to or wasn't invited to," Cripps said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She said Patterson told her Simon had been controlling, made her doubt herself as a mother and "also impacted her self-esteem".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Cripps said Patterson told her she'd received an inheritance from her grandmother and she had given half to Simon when they separated in 2015.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"She had done that because that's what she thought you did when you separated," Cripps told the jury.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/explainer-why-are-there-so-many-banknotes-in-australia-when-hardly-any-of-us-are-using-them/fa613ea9-0758-4961-b60a-785c478356fe" rel="" target="" title="Why are there so many banknotes, when hardly any of us are using cash?"><strong><span>Why are there so many banknotes, when hardly any of us are using cash?</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Patterson told her she'd made a beef Wellington with green beans, mashed potato and packet gravy for Don, Gail, Heather and Ian, on July 29, and served leftovers to her kids the next day.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She told Cripps she had eaten "half" of the lunch and had scraped mushrooms off the dish when she served it to her kids.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"She said that she had started to feel unwell after that ... and was experiencing loose bowel movements," Cripps said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"She said that Simon had told her that the others were really sick too."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Cripps said she visited Patterson the next day, on August 2, after she had been discharged from Monash Hospital.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She toured her Leongatha home and helped Patterson contact a public health official who was trying to speak to her about the origins of the mushrooms in the meal.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Patterson could not recall the Asian store she bought some of the mushrooms from, said they were "strong smelling" and she had rehydrated them and mixed them with fresh mushrooms from Woolworths, Cripps said as she overheard the call.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Did you ask Erin Patterson if she had picked the mushrooms used in the lunch?" Lenthall asked.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I did," Cripps replied.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Did she answer you?" Lenthall continued.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"No ... she was looking at her phone," Cripps said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The trial continues.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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