This is the Mushroom Murder Trial Podcast. My name is Lisa and welcome to my show. So get yourself a coffee, a tea or a Diet Coke, because we have a lot to talk about, especially now. I can tell you really what I think about Erin Patterson, triple murderer and now full-time resident of Dame Phyllis Frost Detention Centre in Melbourne. Now I just have some housekeeping to start, just to let you know, one of the journalists on this case, duncan McNabb, has a book coming out very, very soon. He is the best-selling author of Roger Rogerson. You may have heard of him. He was the, I suppose, the most corrupt and most vicious police officer New South Wales has ever had.
Speaker 1:So Recipe for Murder will give you the poisonous truth behind Erin Patterson, the mushroom murderer of Leangatha. I've seen the cover. It looks fabulous. It's out very soon and he's also going to come on the show. So we're going to do a live show and talk about our experiences covering the case, because we've been in this from the start, through the pre-trial and the trial and now post trial. Now I'm also going to talk to John Ferguson. He's the reporter who broke the story of the tragic lunch for the Australian. So we've just got to make sure we can get a ton together and you can listen to him.
Speaker 1:Now, before we start, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at mushroommurdertrialcom. It's full of updates and information about the trial. I hope everyone got their email about the jury that I sent through recently that they were about to make a decision, so let me know if you didn't, because I don't trust the internet Now. I also would love you guys, if you could, to subscribe and review the Mushroom Murder Trial podcast. So, since I've been covering this case, I've been doing a lot of thinking, and it's about the concept of familicide, which is where a killer annihilates members of his or her own family.
Speaker 1:I'm very interested in this subject due to the shocking Chris Watts crimes from the USA. Now, he was someone quite like Aaron that you never could have predicted was a budding murderer. He was very introverted as well, and he lurked in the background just like the cook of Langatha. I describe Chris Watts as a human weasel because in 2018, he annihilated his beautiful wife, shanann, and their two darling little toddlers, bella and Celeste. He'd been having an affair and he wanted to start a new life, so that was his solution. It's ridiculous, isn't it? You just leave someone, you don't kill everyone. So this monster stuffed his girl's bodies into oil tanks on the company facility where he worked and he buried his wife face down in a hastily dug ditch. Like Erin, he maintains he's innocent, even though he's on camera driving away with the bodies. Sound familiar anyone? Let's go and ditch the dehydrator at the tip in front of all the cameras. Have you seen that? I will be getting those exhibits as well and putting them on the website.
Speaker 1:So Watts also did bizarre media interviews. You might have seen the episode I put through yesterday about Erin versus the media. Check it out. There's a link in the show notes and Watts is in there as well. But both of their cover-ups were blundersome and full of some extremely bizarre lies. These crimes were shocking in their cruelty and I believe Erin, as I said, is no different to Watts.
Speaker 1:But at the end of the day, someone that's Erin who was so desperate to keep the love and attention of the Patterson family, ended up killing some of them in a domestic setting, her kitchen, essentially the heart of her home. This is the same woman who says she had a terrible, neglectful childhood, but she targeted a happy family. So there's so much to think about. There's an article that was in the Australian on July 8th and it is by Claire Harvey, and it says what on earth was Erin Patterson's motive? It's obvious domestic violence, coercive control. Yes, someone's finally said it Patterson is like every man who slaughters his children to punish his wife, every DV monster who terrorizes a woman who tries to get away her patterns of behavior control, withholding affection. I have to tell you something when we were in that Facebook group Erin this is like 2019, 2020, she all gave us the impression that Simon was living with her and they were married and living as man and wife. That is weird, don't you think? So it makes me wonder about the truth, about how she got the secret cleaner and Simon didn't know about it. Why would he care whether her house is cleaned or not? I just have so many questions. Patterson is like every man who slaughters his children and she goes on to say her patterns of behavior control, withholding affection, isolating husband, simon Patterson are signs of abuse we're used to diagnosing when men are the perpetrators, yet because she's a woman, our society struggles with it. Well, not me.
Speaker 1:The dominant partner frequently excludes and marginalises their spouse who spends time. Yes, simon spent time in caravan parks and rented flats and who idolise the dominant partner, hoping in vain for a permanent resolution. The dominant partner uses emotional blackmail, claims of illness suffered by themselves and the children to create a sense of drama and suspense. That's what Erin was like in the group dramatic, seeking attention and wanted to be in everyone's business. When the dominant partner wrong foots the submissive partner by choosing moments to suddenly walk away, like on a family holiday drive around Australia, just like Erin, and then returns with the cool expectation of being restored to their dominant position, the dominant partner demeans and mocks the submissive partner's faith and family. So when the powerless partner makes a step, a first step, towards independence, self-describing as separated on a tax return, something so little that it set her off, the dominant partner is enraged and begins a campaign of abuse, belittlement, rage and disparagement. So yes, we heard in the court Erin's son say that Dad had been doing a lot of bad things to Mum. Well, how would he know, other than Erin told him that there's trying to unsuccessfully draw extended family into the dispute.
Speaker 1:The dominant partner organises a showdown where a made-up dramatic story of a serious illness is to be told. That's the cancer story. We know that, don't we? So when the crime is discovered, the dominant partner lies blames. The spouse claims to be the real victim. That's what Erin Excels at is claiming to be the victim. She did it in the group and those emails like I wasn't close with Erin but I annoyed her a couple of times I think. And I got these emails and when I saw them in court I was just like, oh my God, because it's just so, what's the word I'm looking for? Just so. Self-satisfied, but you're also the victim. Dissatisfied, but you're also the victim. Mate, you're not the victim. As we know, it's coercive control. She wiped out his family and that's the motive. I agree with Claire Harvey. One partner in the marriage was independently wealthy and dominant in every way intellectually, financially and in terms of the time they can devote to controlling the house, the children, access to extended family.
Speaker 1:Okay, so now let's move on to the errand I knew in the Keep Kelly Lane Behind Bars Facebook group, the Herald Sun. I've got to say they're bringing out the exclusives at the moment. I've even subscribed because they've been incredible. So Brooke Crabbett-Craig has got an article that says the lies that got quote, crazy errands sacked from an air traffic control gig. My friend was over here yesterday and she said to me Lisa, you told me she was an air traffic controller. When, yeah, she said that's so disturbing. I agree, I'm sure you do too. This is just an amazing story. It's just got so many colours of grey. So former colleagues of triple murderer Erin Patterson have described her as a quote pathological liar who managed to get guys wrapped around her little finger. That's fascinating. We must get to the bottom of that. Wrapped around her little finger, that's fascinating. We must get to the bottom of that.
Speaker 1:So she was known as Scutter the Nutter by her air traffic controller course mates before she was sat for lying about her working hours. So she worked at Air Services Australia between February to November 2001. Wow, she made such an impression in such a short time. So her maiden name was Scutter. Back then A course mate who asked not to be named said she was also called Crazy Erin. Quote something was not quite right. She was a bit strange. She would say some weird off-the-cuff things. She wasn't a nice person, she just wasn't someone you connected to. The course mate said Patterson was super secretive about her life. She didn't engage nice person, she just wasn't someone you connected to. The course. Mate said Patterson was super secretive about her life. She didn't engage with anyone. She had no friends, she was a loner.
Speaker 1:Another colleague said Patterson's time at Air Services Australia ended under a cloud. They said management became sceptical that she was regularly leaving work early but claiming the time After checking the CCTV. There you go, erin. You should have learnt the first time from the car park. They were able to confirm their suspicions. The air traffic controller said it was put to Patterson who lied until she was shown the timestamp footage of her leaving. Ah, you got me. There was what she said. They recalled she was also described as manipulative quote. She was not a gregarious person. She was aggressive. In many ways she was ritual, habitual and pathological liar. She would say just about anything just to get away with anything. Wow. Now the former colleague said, despite some personality issues, a number of men on staff had pursued Patterson and became quote smitten. One was a married man who turned up at her house in the early hours saying he wanted to leave his wife for her. I have no words. She managed to get guys wrapped around her little finger. They said there you go. Erin Learned a lot of things about you there. Scutter the nutter. And then we've got crazy Erin but love machine as well. That's fabulous. Okay, this is from AAP Mushroom killer.
Speaker 1:Erin Patterson spent the first few nights of her trial cold and sleepless inside a police cell. She had requested the trial to be held in the small Victorian town of Morwell, where she was held underneath the local police station. Had the trial been conducted in Melbourne, she may have been afforded more comforts inside the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, a maximum security women's prison, where she was driven back and forth every weekend over the 11-week trial. Now, on the first day, patterson's lawyers complained that she wasn't giving him a doona nor access to a computer and writing materials in herself. Well, that's fair enough, but there had been some suggestion to her that she wasn't going to get special treatment by custody officers, that's her barrister, colin Mandy, on April 29. Someone who was in police cells for five weeks facing a murdered child with a massive brief of evidence should be afforded some accommodation, he said, because in some ways she requires special treatment. I'm sure Erin would agree with you, mr Mandy, so we can do our job properly, so she can provide us with proper instructions, so that she's not uncomfortable.
Speaker 1:So there were media seats directly in front of Patterson while she was in the dock, but reporters had to turn around to get a glimpse of her and they had to actually physically swivel and face her. She would often turn her head on an angle and stare directly into the eyes of the reporters, leaving a menacing impression. Do, do, do, don't menace reporters, erin, we don't agree. Okay, photographers and camera operators outside the court were banned from photographing Patterson during the trial, with a prohibition on quote any images of the accused which suggest, expressly or impliedly, that she is in custody. Well, we all know she's in custody now, don't we? She's got 28 days to launch an appeal, but as far as I understand, when it comes to an appeal, it's very narrow. You don't have a lot of scope. So we'll see what happens there. There's more suppression orders and then we will have another hearing for Erin, her pre-sentencing hearing I don't know when that is yet and then following that will be the sentence. So I'm going to one of those.
Speaker 1:So thank you for listening. I appreciate it so much. For more information, visit my website. Make sure you subscribe to the newsletter on mushroommurdertrialcom Plus. I'm on Instagram and I'm also on YouTube and Twitter, and those links are in the show notes as well. And if you're feeling like rewarding me for the thousands of hours I've spent on this work, I have a buy me a coffee membership where you can one-off pay me five dollars as a thank you, but only if you can afford it. I mean you giving me your time is the greatest honour. I really appreciate it. So thank you. Now, those people who are waiting for their stickers. Right forager of facts, you'll be able to get your sticker very, very soon. I just haven't got to the post office, even though it's less than 100 metres away from my house. But that's what happens when you're covering the mushroom trial. So have a fabulous day. I will talk to you very, very soon. Thanks, bye.