The judge told jurors he’d received information the juror had discussed the case with friends and family contrary to directions given to jurors at the start of the trial.

He said he formed the view the information was “credible”, but did not make a positive finding that the juror did discuss the case, only that there was a reasonable possibility it occurred.

“I remind you to only discuss the case with your fellow jurors, not anyone else,” he said.

“On that unhappy note, we’re now ready to resume the trial.”

Toxin claim in mushroom murder trial

On Thursday afternoon, Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine’s head of forensic sciences and chief toxicologist, Dimitri Gerostamoulos, told the jury that alpha-amanitin and beta-amanitin toxins were detected in the leftovers.

Gerostamoulos said the institute tested meat, pastry and mushroom paste samples from beef Wellington located in Patterson’s bin after the lunch.

In three of four mushroom paste samples, no alpha-amanitin or beta-amanitin toxins were found, but in one sample it detected beta-amanitin.

Beta-amanitin toxins were also detected in one meat sample, he said.

In supplied samples of “vegetable matter” located in a dehydrator, Gerostamoulos said alpha-amanitin and beta-amanitin toxins were detected.

Questioned by Justice Beale on whether those toxins were “exclusively” found in death cap mushrooms, Gerostamoulos said “yes”.

Gerostamoulos will face cross-examination when the trial resumes this morning.

‘Nice flavour’: Mushroom cook’s alleged claim

On Thursday morning, child protection worker Katrina Cripps told the jury she interviewed Patterson on August 1 while she was still in hospital.

The following day, Cripps said she visited Patterson’s home about 1pm after the accused had been discharged from Monash Medical Centre.

Cripps was questioned about what Patterson told her about the mushrooms used in the beef Wellington lunch.

She told the jury that Patterson said she used fresh mushrooms from Woolworths and dried mushrooms purchased from an Asian grocer.

“She said she read the ones she got from the Asian grocer would add a nice flavour,” Cripps said.

“She said she found the recipe in a cookbook and wanted to do something new and special.”

Cripps said Patterson described rehydrating the dried mushrooms, chopping them up and mixing them with the fresh mushrooms.

Patterson described the mushrooms as coming in a bag that was not resealable and had a white label, Cripps said.

She told the court that Patterson claimed she had previously opened the packet, planning to use the mushrooms a few months earlier but decided not to and stored them in a Tupperware container.

“She was going to use them in a carbonara but they had a very strong smell,” Cripps said she was told.

Of the lunch, Cripps said Patterson told her the guests chose their own plates, with the accused woman taking “the one that was left” and saving two plates for her children.

She said she was told Ian and Heather Wilkinson ate a full serve, Don Patterson ate his serve and half of his wife Gail’s, while Patterson ate a half portion.

Later, Cripps confirmed Patterson had told her she consumed “half” her beef Wellington.

‘Nasty’: Alleged poisoner’s claim to worker

Cripps said Patterson told her that after she applied for child support around September 2022, the relationship with her estranged husband Simon Patterson changed and “became nasty”.

“She talked about feeling he was at times controlling and emotionally abusive… would say things that made her doubt herself as a mother,” she said.

“But she did say they had a good relationship until recently.”

She told the jury Patterson said Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, were “like the parents she never had” but their relationship had also changed.

“She felt he was isolating her from the family,” she said.

Cripps said Patterson told her she did not have a support network outside her husband’s family and “became upset” at the prospect of losing this following the lunch.

Accused claimed she fell sick

Cripps told the court Patterson said she started to feel unwell the evening after the lunch, with “loose bowel movements”.

She said the accused woman told her she dropped her son’s friend home and stopped at a supermarket on the way home but remained in the car hoping the seat would “act as a cork”.

Cripps was questioned by Justice Beale whether “cork” was Patterson’s word, responding “yes”.

Gerostamoulos also gave further evidence that death cap mushrooms primarily contained three toxins, called alpha-amanitin, beta-amanitin and gamma-amanitin.

“They’re quite toxic in terms of the potency,” he said.

“They progressively get worse, if the toxin isn’t removed they progress to tissue necrosis, organ failure and can lead to death.”

Gerostamoulos said when introduced into the human body the toxins stopped normal cell function and affected the liver and kidneys.

He told the court the toxins were “quite resilient” and remained stable when subject to high heat, such as when cooked.

If the toxins were ingested, Gerostamoulos said the liver was unable to process them.

“They are rapidly cleared, usually within a day from the blood, but may remain in the urine for some days,” he said.

“It’s essential a sample is taken close to the time of ingestion.”

Toxins found in Don Patterson, not his wife Gail

Gerostamoulos was taken to a table of toxicological assessments of samples taken from Don Patterson before and after his death.

The court was told alpha-amanitin and beta-amanitin toxins were detected in Don’s urine sample from the morning of July 30.

“That’s reported as detected, that’s above the threshold we set,” he said.

Gerostamoulos said those toxins were not found in Don Patterson’s blood sample or other biological samples collected after his death on August 5.

Taken to Gail Patterson’s results, Gerostamoulos said neither of the toxins was detected.

But he said no urine sample was provided from the hospital taken before her death.

“There was no alpha-amanitin and beta-amanitin detected in any of those samples,” he said.

Doctor provides medical evidence

Called to give evidence at the trial on Wednesday, intensive care specialist and Flinders University professor Dr Andrew Bersten said Patterson’s medical records were “consistent” with her having suffered a diarrhoeal illness.

The jury was told Patterson checked herself into Leongatha Hospital on July 31, complaining of abdominal cramps, nausea and diarrhoea since the evening of the lunch.

Later the same day, she was transferred to Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne, where she spent 21.5 hours before being discharged.

Bersten confirmed the notes indicated she was discharged on August 1 with no evidence of poisoning from death cap mushrooms or any other toxic substance.

Three of her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, died within a day of each other in early August from multiple organ failure due to clinically diagnosed amanita mushroom poisoning.

Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson gradually recovered and he was discharged into the rehabilitation ward on September 11.

At the start of the trial, Patterson’s barrister, Colin Mandy, SC, told the jury that his client did not dispute her guests were poisoned with death cap mushrooms but that she did not deliberately poison anyone.

“The defence case is that she didn’t intend to cause anyone any harm on that day,” he said. “The defence case is that what happened was a tragedy and a terrible accident.”

The trial continues.