Erin Patterson murder trial live: cross-examination of lead detective in Australian mushroom case continues

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The court has adjourned for a lunch break.

The trial will resume from 2.15pm.

Mandy takes Eppingstall to a screenshot from December 2024 of the iNaturalist website that was shown to the jury on Wednesday.

Under questioning by Mandy, Eppingstall agrees the website would have looked different in 2022.

The court previously heard Eppingstall took screenshots of the web pages which originated from URLs from May 2022 found on a computer seized from Patterson’s house.

Eppingstall agrees there is no evidence the landing page shown in the screenshot was the same in 2022.

Detective asked about conversation with fungi expert

Eppingstall cross-examined about phone records

Mandy asks Eppingstall about the call charge records, previously shown to the jury, and if the time reflected for a changed IMEI number [International Mobile Equipment Identity, used to identify phone handsets] is accurate.

Eppingstall says he believed the time on the record is accurate. He agrees telecommunications expert Dr Matthew Sorell, who gave evidence earlier in the trial, was not asked about this.

Detective asked about travel times between Leongatha and locations where death cap mushrooms sighted

Mandy says Eppingstall gave evidence about travel distances and times between Leongatha and Outtrim, and Leongatha and Loch.

The court previously heard that sightings of death cap mushrooms in Outtrim and Loch had been posted on the citizen science website iNaturalist in the months before the lunch.

Mandy asks if travel time can vary depending on the route. Eppingstall agrees.

Eppingstall tells court about data retrieved from phones

Mandy shows the court a report of downloads extracted from Simon’s phone. Mandy says the only thing extracted from the phone was messages.

“That’s all I asked for,” says Eppingstall.

The report was about 70 pages and contained 280 messages between Erin and Simon Patterson, Mandy says.

Eppingstall says he was also aware of messages on the app Signal that Erin and Simon used.

Mandy then turns to Gail and Don’s phones.

Eppingstall says he believed police got a “full extraction” from Gail’s phone.

He says Don’s phone was “fairly empty”, adding:

I don’t think he used his phone much.

Simon Patterson provided Gail’s, Don’s and his own phones to police, court hears

Eppingstall says Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon, provided Gail and Don’s mobile phones to police on 6 August 2023. Simon also provided his own mobile phone on the same day.

Mandy asks:

Did he tell you at any stage that he had changed his phone?

Eppingstall says Simon mentioned he had changed his handset. Eppingstall says Simon provided his handset to police again on 12 September 2023.

Eppingstall asked about bank records

Mandy asks Eppingstall about Patterson’s Bendigo Bank records he obtained during the investigation.

He confirms no bank records were obtained for the time period prior to 1 July 2023.

He says he does not recall seeing records from other banks.

Mandy asks Eppingstall about online bookstore purchases

Mandy asks if Eppingstall obtained a “large number of receipts” from Booktopia as part of the investigation.

Eppingstall agrees he did find a large number of books related to diets.

Mandy turns to the “significant media interest” in the case. He says from 1 August 2023, the police media unit were “briefed and holding lines were prepared”.

Eppingstall says holding lines are “short blurbs that go out to [the] media” to let the public know basic details of an incident. He says:

It’s a very generic statement.

The jurors have entered the courtroom in Morwell.

Patterson’s lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, is continuing to cross-examine Detective Leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall, the officer in charge of the investigation into the lethal lunch.

We’re waiting for the jury to enter the courtroom in Morwell.

Here’s a report from our justice and courts reporter, Nino Bucci, on what the jury heard on Wednesday:

What the jury heard on day 21 of trial

We’re waiting for today’s proceedings to get underway.

Here’s a recap of what the jury heard on Wednesday:

1. Electronic records taken from a computer seized by police from Erin Patterson’s house indicated it had been used to visit webpages listing sightings of death cap mushrooms, the court heard.

2. Jurors were shown Patterson’s Woolworths purchase history which included two items of 500g sliced mushrooms purchased on 23 July 2023 in Leongatha.

3. The jury was shown text messages between Patterson and her mother-in-law, Gail Patterson, where the pair discussed medical appointments for the accused including a needle biopsy on 28 June 2023. Detective Leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall said obtained medical records found no appointment matching this.

4. Eppingstall said no cancer diagnosis for Patterson was found on the Victorian cancer registry database.

5. Police never located a phone connected to Patterson that the prosecution labelled “Phone A”, the court heard.

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