Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates: Detective reveals mystery surrounding Erin Patterson’s ‘Phone A’ – as mushroom murder trial hears another device was wiped clean during police search of her home

By PAUL SHAPIRO AND WAYNE FLOWER FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Published: 01:47 BST, 29 May 2025 | Updated: 03:32 BST, 29 May 2025

Follow Daily Mail Australia’s live coverage of accused mushroom chef Erin Patterson‘s murder trial at Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court in Morwell, Victoria.

Homicide detective details ‘Phone A’ mystery

Lead homicide detective Senior-Constable Stephen Eppingstall (pictured below) told the Erin Patterson murder trial jury that police examined 81 pages of digital records surrounding the device known in the trial as ‘Phone A’.

However, the jury heard police were never able to find and seize the phone, a second Samsung Galaxy A23.

Sen-Constable Eppingstall said he discovered the existence of the phone and retreived records dating from 2019 to July 2023 for the number ending ‘783’.

‘The 783 number is in use for that entire period,’ he told the jury.

The detective said he investigated the phone after police realised they had an ‘issue’ with ‘Phone B’, another Samsung Galaxy A23 seized from Patterson’s bedroom during a search of her home on August 5, 2023 – a week after the deadly lunch.

The jury previously heard evidence that Phone B was remotely factory reset while in a secure locker at the Homicide Squad headquarters in Melbourne on August 6.

The phone had also been reset at 1.20pm on August 5 – about the same time Patterson was left alone for ’20 to 30 minutes’ to make a phone call while police searched her Leongatha home.

Later, Sen-Constable Eppingstall said he realised the number for Phone B provided by Patterson during her police interview had only been connected on July 11, 2023.

Police also seized a Samsung Galaxy tablet which contained 19 pages of mostly data records. However, SMS text messages were discovered on the device.

Sen-Constable Eppingstall said the SIM card from the tablet had been in the device until August 3, 2023, before it was then placed in Phone B.

The detective told the court records indicated the SIM card from Phone A was placed into a Nokia phone which had been seized by police.

‘(At) 1.45pm on the 5th of August, 2023, we see the actual SIM card change from Phone A into a different phone,’ Sen-Constable Eppingstall told the court.

Investigators searched Patterson’s Leongatha home again on November 2 looking for Phone A but could not locate it.

Jury hears of purchases Erin Patterson made in Melbourne including ‘Chou Trading P/L’

Sen-Constable Stephen Eppingstall said he had several more meetings with Erin Patterson and her estranged husband Simon after her initial police interview on August 5, a week after the deadly mushroom lunch.

He told the jury he also obtained statements from Erin’s Bendigo Bank account from July 1 to August 4, 2023.

‘Can’t explain why we didn’t go back further,’ Sen-Constable Eppingstall said.

Mr Mandy raised with Sen-Constable Eppingstall two purchases Erin had made on July 5, 2023.

One transaction was made at a 7-Eleven store at Glen Waverley, in Melbourne’s east.

The other was made soon after with a vendor the jury heard was called ‘Chou Trading P/L’.

Sen-Constable Eppingstall agreed he saw the 7-Eleven record.

Defence barrister explores Erin Patterson’s weight and diet book purchases with lead detective

Lead defence barrister Colin Mandy SC is continuing his cross-examination of the final prosecution witness, Homicide Squad detective leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall.

Erin Patterson, who is today wearing a paisley top, listened as Mr Mandy asked Sen-Constable Eppingstall if he was aware the accused weighed 111.7kg when she was admitted to hospital on July 31.

Sen-Constable Eppingstall confirmed he was aware and also agreed that Patterson bought several books about diet from Booktopia.

Mr Mandy also raised police protocols regarding media coverage of the deadly mushroom lunch case.

Sen-Constable Eppingstall agreed that holding lines – a generic statement from police media – had been prepared.

‘There was significant media interest,’ Mr Mandy said.

The jury heard mainstream media had covered the case widely on August 5.

Sen-Constable Eppingstall said investigators noted the ‘significant’ media coverage and media ‘management’ was to be ongoing.

The detective also agreed media was camped outside Patterson’s Leongatha home and some members even went onto the property.

Everything you need to know about the Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial so far

Erin Patterson, 50, is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, after allegedly serving them a beef Wellington lunch which included death cap mushrooms.

Patterson is also accused of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson, who survived the lunch after spending several weeks in an intensive care unit.

The court heard Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon, was also invited to the gathering at her home in Leongatha, in Victoria’s Gippsland region, but didn’t attend.

Witnesses told the jury Patterson ate her serving of the lunch from a smaller and differently coloured plate than those of her guests, who ate from four grey plates.

Patterson told authorities she bought dried mushrooms from an unnamed Asian store in the Monash area of Melbourne, but health inspectors could find no evidence of this.

Victoria’s health department declared the death cap mushroom poisoning was ‘isolated’ to Patterson’s deadly lunch.

Multiple witnesses, including Erin’s estranged husband Simon Patterson, Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson and other family members, have given emotion-charged evidence to the jury.

Medical staff have told the jury of the painful symptoms the dying lunch guests and Mr Wilkinson suffered.

An expert witness told the court death cap mushrooms were detected in debris taken from a dehydrator Patterson had dumped at a local tip.

Telecommunications expert Dr Matthew Sorell also told the jury that Patterson’s phone was detected near areas at Outtrim and Loch, in the Gippsland region, where death cap mushrooms had been spotted.

Victoria Police Cybercrime Squad senior digital forensics officer Shamen Fox-Henry said he found evidence of a death cap mushroom on data from a computer seized from Patterson’s Leongatha home on August 5, 2023.

On Friday, Austin Hospital intensive care director Professor Stephen Warrillow told the jury he was at the Melbourne health facility in July 2023 when the poisoned lunch guests were transferred to his care.

Professor Warrillow said all patients were given intense treatment and Don received a liver transplant.

Ian Wilkinson (pictured below) sat in court and listened as details of his wife died from death cap poisoning were aired in court.

The jury also heard the text exchanges between health department officer Sally Anne Atkinson and Patterson in the days after the deadly lunch as authorities rushed to solve the cause of the outbreak.

On Tuesday, the jury was shown the police interview Patterson took part in shortly after her home was searched on August 5.

Detectives seized a manual for a Sunbeam hydrator but Patterson denied in her interview that she ever owned such an appliance.

Patterson also told police she invited her in-laws for lunch because she loved them and they were like real family to her.

Homicide Squad detective leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall, the police informant in the Patterson trial, told the court officers searched for a Samsung Galaxy A23 – known as ‘Phone A’ – but it was never found.

Sen-Constable Eppingstall also said another Samsung Galaxy A23 – known as ‘Phone B’ – was factory reset multiple times including while police searched Patterson’s Leongatha home.

He said Phone B was later remotely wiped while it was kept in a secure locker at the Homicide Squad headquarters in Melbourne.

The jury also heard Patterson’s family had a history of cancer and her daughter had a benign ovarian cancer cyst removed.

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Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates: Detective reveals mystery surrounding Erin Patterson’s ‘Phone A’ – as mushroom murder trial hears another device was wiped clean during police search of her home

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