Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates: Doubt cast on cybercrime officer's computer investigation

By PAUL SHAPIRO AND WAYNE FLOWER FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Published: 01:26 BST, 26 May 2025 | Updated: 02:10 BST, 26 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.

Cybercrime officer’s expertise tested in court

Victoria Police Cybercrime Squad senior digital forensics officer Shamen Fox-Henry has had his credentials tested in court.

Erin Patterson, who is wearing a sage green jumper, listened as her barrister Colin Mandy SC put it to Mr Fox-Henry he only had limited qualifications at the time he analysed devices seized from the accused killer’s Leongatha home in August 2023.

Mr Fox-Henry, who the jury heard prior has analysed devices including a computer and Samsung mobile phone linked to the case, agreed he had gained more qualifications since he was first handed the devices.

Mr Fox-Hnery agreed he was ‘following instructions from peers on how to do it (analyse the computer)’.

Doubt cast on forensic computer investigation

Mr Fox-Henry told the jury he used a write-blocker to analyse a computer seized from Erin Patterson’s home.

The jury heard a write-blocker is a hardware device which stops forensic officers from ‘writing or changing data’ on a hard drive.

Mr Fox-Henry confirmed he also used a Magnet Axiom digital forensics tool to analyse the device which ‘spat out a report’.

However, he said he didn’t analyse the contents of the ‘Axiom report’ once it was generated.

The jury has previously heard evidence that a search of the iNaturalist website where death cap msuhroom sightings had been highlighted were found on the computer.

Mr Fox-Henry also admitted he was ‘unable to say’ the extractions from the computer were performed correctly.

Patterson trial overview 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 with death cap mushrooms.

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

The court heard Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon, was also invited, but didn’t attend.

Witnesses told the jury Patterson ate her serving from a smaller and different 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.

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

Multiple witnesses, including Simon Patterson, 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 dehydrater Patterson had dumped at a local tip.

Telecommunications expert Dr Matthew Sorell also told the jury Patterson’s phone was detected near areas in Outtrim and Loch 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 Health Intensive Care Director Professor Stephen Warrillow told the jury he was at the hospital in July 2023 when the death cap poisoned lunch guests were transferred to his care.

Professor Warrillow said all patients received intense treatment and Don and Ian received liver transplants.

Attention Editors: Picture kill for RC23YDAVYQXO. The picture was sent in error. Regions Affected: WORLDWIDE Please remove it from your systems as follows: If this image has already been used online, please remove it from your properties and pages. If this image is intended for a publication that has NOT yet gone to print, please cancel publication of this image. If this image is archived in any of your systems, please permanently delete it. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused. Reuters Erin Patterson, an Australian woman accused of murdering three elderly people who died after they allegedly consumed a lunch she prepared which contained poisonous mushrooms, looks on in Melbourne, Australia, April 15, 2025. AAP/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. AUSTRALIA OUT. NEW ZEALAND OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN NEW ZEALAND. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN AUSTRALIA.

Patterson’s group messages about her estranged husband and his family read aloud to jury: ‘I swear to God’

Erin Patterson vented about her in-laws to online friends in the months leading up to the fateful lunch on July 29, 2023 that claimed their lives.

In the messages, Patterson described her in-laws as a ‘lost cause’ and exclaimed ‘f**k them’.

Patterson showed no emotion at the back of courtroom four of the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court in Victoria’s east, where her Supreme Court hearing is being held.

Mr Fox-Henry (pictured below) was able to recover the Facebook messages from a Samsung phone seized by police upon Patterson’s arrest in August 2023.

Some of the messages to her online friends read:

‘Simon’s dad contacted me this morning to say that he and Gail had tried to talk to Simon about the matters I raised and to get ‘his side’ but he refused to talk about it other than to signal he disagreed with what I said.

‘Beyond that he wont talk about it. So Don said they cant adjudicate if they don’t know both sides and Simon wont give his side. So he said all he can ask is that Simon and I get together to pray for the children.

‘This family I swear to f**king God.’