Erin Patterson, 50, has been convicted in Australia of murdering three family members and attempting to murder a fourth with a beef wellington lunch laced with death cap mushrooms in July 2023.
Following a nine-week trial and a jury’s deliberation lasting seven days, Patterson was found guilty by a unanimous decision and is now awaiting sentencing.
Don and Gail Patterson, her parents-in-law, along with Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and husband Ian Wilkinson all fell seriously ill after eating the lunch, with only Ian surviving the poisoning.
Patterson had prepared an additional serving of the beef wellington for her estranged husband, Simon, who had initially planned to attend the lunch but cancelled shortly beforehand.
In a grim twist for one celebrity chef in Australia, it turned out that Patterson had used her recipe whilst preparing the lunch. The death cap mushrooms, of course, weren’t included in the original.
The trial revealed that the modified recipe was taken from Nagi Maehashi’s cookbook, RecipeTin Eats Dinner, with photos taken from Patterson’s home showing the cookbook in situ.
Maehashi, who is the name behind the popular cookery site RecipeTin Eats, has issued a statement on social media asking for privacy while she digests the revelation.
Tokyo-born Maehashi has over 1.7 million subscribers on Instagram where she shared a huge range of recipes inspired by different cultures and home cooking classics.
“It is of course upsetting to learn that one of my recipes — possibly the one I’ve spent more hours perfecting than any other, something I created to bring joy and happiness — is entangled in a tragic situation,” Maehashi said in an Instagram post on 8 July 2025.
“Other than that, I have nothing to say and I won’t be talking to anyone.
“Thank you for respecting my privacy.”
The death cap mushrooms, thought to be responsible for 90% of mushroom-related deaths worldwide, weren’t the only alteration Patterson made to Maehashi’s recipe. While RecipeTin Eats Dinner directs home cooks to cook the wellington into a log, Patterson cooked individual servings to cater to the beef cut she had available.
Toxicology reports conducted on leftovers retrieved from Patterson’s bin found traces of the deadly mushrooms. Patterson herself ate the lunch but reportedly threw up on the same day. She admitted herself to hospital after becoming ill, but recovered quickly.
Patterson will reportedly appeal against her conviction, with a 28-day window to do so following sentencing.
Featured Image Credit: Fairfax Media / Contributor/Getty ImagesTopics: Celebrity, Social Media, News, Cooking
Rachael Davis