Erin Patterson is standing trial in Morwell, Australia, accused of serving a deadly mushroom-laced meal that killed three relatives. Photo / Getty Images
Erin Patterson is standing trial in Morwell, Australia, accused of serving a deadly mushroom-laced meal that killed three relatives. Photo / Getty Images
Erin Patterson’s phone movements were examined in her triple-murder trial.
Dr Matthew Sorrell testified about her phone’s connections on July 31, 2023.
Patterson is accused of poisoning three relatives with death cap mushrooms in July 2023.
Alleged triple-killer Erin Patterson’s mobile phone movements after she checked herself out of hospital against medical advice has been probed in her trial.
Giving evidence at Patterson’s triple-murder trial, Digital Forensic Sciences Australia’s Dr Matthew Sorrell told the court he sifted through more than four years of her phone records.
Ian Wilkinson (inset) survived a deadly mushroom lunch cooked by Erin Patterson but his wife and two relatives died.
On Tuesday morning, Sorrell was quizzed about Patterson’s phone’s movements between 8am and 10am on July 31, 2023.
Previously, the jury was told she presented at Leongatha Hospital at 8.05am, discharged herself five minutes later and then returned about 9.45am.
Sorrell said at 8.31am her phone connected to a Leongatha tower, before connecting to Outtrim three times between 8.55am and 8.58am and later reconnecting to Leongatha at 9.23am.
He said it indicated a “possible visit” to the Outtrim postcode but it was “not strongly supported by the evidence”.
“There is a gap in the records of about 30 minutes,” he said.
Sorrell said he could not exclude the possibility that the connections represented movement inside a house.
Giving evidence on Monday, he told the jury that phones will connect to the cell tower providing the best signal.
“The base station that gives you the best service at the front door of your house may be different to the base station that gives you the best service at the back door,” he said.
During cross-examination by Patterson’s defence barrister Colin Mandy, SC, Sorrell conceded there were limitations to how reliable the cellphone data could be in determining a phone’s location.
He agreed with Mandy’s suggestion there was no way to pin a phone to a particular location without “corroborating evidence”.
Using the town of Outtrim as an example, Mandy asked the expert if it was possible the phone could visit the area and not connect to the two local cell tower base stations.
“There’s all number of reasons that could occur, yes,” he said.
Sorrell explained weather, geography and topography or even the power, height and tilt of an antenna could cause a phone to choose a tower that is further away and provides a better signal.
Highlighting this, he told the jury he once saw a case where a phone preferenced a tower 60km away.
He was due to continue giving evidence this afternoon.
Sorrell said he was also tasked with finding potential visits to the Loch and Outtrim postcodes – two townships near Patterson’s Leongatha home where the deadly mushroom had been observed.
Earlier in the trial, two witnesses gave evidence that they located death cap mushrooms in those towns and posted details, including a precise location, on citizen science website iNaturalist.
Christine McKenzie said she posted the mushrooms on April 18, 2023, in Loch, while Dr Tom May posted a sighting of death caps in Outtrim on May 21 the same year.
Sorrell told the jury Patterson’s phone could have possibly visited Loch between 9.14am and about 10am on April 28.
He said the records indicate movement out of Korumburra, connecting to Loch and a return to Korumburra, but there was an “absence” of records for the middle of that period.
“While there is a potential visit, it doesn’t definitely point to being in the Loch township,” he said.
On May 22, Sorrell said the phone records indicate potential visits to both Loch and Outtrim.
He said Patterson’s phone connected with the Loch South base station “every five minutes” from 9.19am until about 10am.
Later the same morning, he said the records “indicate support the opinion the phone could be in the northern section of Outtrim” between 11.24am and 11.49am.
Patterson is facing trial after pleading not guilty to the murder of three of her husband’s relatives and the attempted murder of one more.
Simon Patterson’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson died from death cap mushroom poisoning in the week after eating a beef Wellington at Patterson’s home on July 29, 2023.
Don Patterson and Gail Patterson, Erin's former parents-in-law, died after a suspected mushroom poisoning.
Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, recovered after spending a month and a half in hospital.
Prosecutors allege Patterson deliberately spiked the lunch with “murderous intent”, while her defence argues the case is a “tragic accident”.
