She says she mixed those mushrooms with fresh ones she bought at a Leongatha supermarket and served them in a beef Wellington she cooked for her former in-laws,Don and Gail Patterson,and Gail’s sister and brother-in-law Heather and Ian Wilkinson at a lunch at her Leongatha home on July 29.
Patterson says that she panicked when her lunch guests went to hospital and her ex-husband accused her of using her food dehydrator to poison them. That is why she dumped it at the local tip.
Patterson says she also fell ill,was taken to the local hospital,given a liver protecting drug and a drip,and sent to Monash hospital by ambulance. In the statement she says she fed her two children the same meal the following day,but scraped the mushrooms off because they didn’t like them.
Patterson admits she lied about the food dehydrator when first questioned by police,and regrets accepting initial legal advice to refuse to answer further questions. Detectives will now seek to re-interview her.
Police have made it clear this isnot a murder probe,but an investigation into unexplained deaths. Patterson has repeatedly said she has done nothing wrong.
Here are 12 follow-up questions the homicide squad is likely to ask.