Secret Erin Patterson evidence could cause 'massive publicity'

Evidence in the Erin Patterson case that would receive "massive publicity" remains suppressed by Victoria's courts, three years after she murdered her relatives with a beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms.Last month, three judges of Victoria's Court of Appeal threw out Patterson's appeal against her convictions and changed her jail term to a life sentence without parole.However the judges refused to lift a suppression order over a piece of evidence, in case Patterson succeeds in a last-ditch appeal to the High Court and is granted a retrial.In a partially redacted judgment published online, the Court of Appeal said there was a danger Patterson would face "unfair prejudice" if potential jurors knew about the evidence."While the evidence is nuanced and complex, it would be likely to attract very significant publicity with the potential to cause a real and substantial risk of prejudice to any future trial," Justices Stephen McLeish, Lesley Taylor and Peter Kidd wrote.For legal reasons, the ABC is unable to report details of what the evidence is.Pastor Ian Wilkinson (left) survived but his wife Heather and in-laws Don and Gail Patterson died after the Leongatha lunch. (Supplied)In most legal matters, reporting restrictions are lifted at the end of a trial allowing publicity about things the jury did not hear.The judges said this was an "exceptional case" and their ruling did not mean "contentious" pieces of inadmissible evidence would be automatically suppressed in other cases.Secret evidence would leave 'indelible impression' on potential jurorsThe evidence was set to be included during Patterson's 2025 trial, where she was charged with murdering relatives Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson.Midway through the trial, Justice Christopher Beale ruled the evidence inadmissible after hearing further legal argument, meaning the information never went before the jury.Justice Beale suppressed the evidence after Patterson was found guilty, pending an appeal to Victoria's highest court, the Court of Appeal."[Justice Beale] found that the evidence would 'receive massive publicity' if publication were to be allowed," the appeal judges wrote."It would 'leave an indelible impression on the minds of potential jurors in the event of a retrial'".The appeal judges decided to keep the suppression order in place, but said it would lift if Patterson failed to apply for special leave to appeal to the High Court by November 27.Other suppressed details revealed last yearMedia outlets, including the ABC, sought to have the suppression lifted after Patterson's appeal failed in the Court of Appeal last month.Media barrister Marcus Hoyne agreed that if published, the evidence would remain in the forefront of the public's mind until a hypothetical future retrial.However, he said, any such trial would face an extensive delay and a judge could properly instruct a jury about the evidence and explain why it had been ruled irrelevant and inadmissible.But the judges ruled publicity of the evidence posed a risk to the proper administration of justice."…it would be highly undesirable, to say the least, for jurors to be aware of the evidence the subject of the present application," they wrote.All seven grounds of the mushroom killer's appeal were dismissed last month, with the judges calling her crimes "extraordinarily cold and calculated"."On any view, these were heinous crimes," the judges said.In 2025, other suppression orders were lifted over other material that was excluded from the trial.It included claims Patterson had tried to murder her estranged husband Simon — unproven allegations that she denied, which were dropped by the prosecution.Other suppressed details included material found on Patterson's computers, such as a book appendix titled "Some common homicidal poisons", a study about red kidney bean poisoning in the UK, and a paper on abrin, a highly toxic compound found in rosary pea seeds.