Twist in alleged deadly mushroom lunch as fears grow for Erin Patterson’s safety behind bars

Accused mushroom chef Erin Patterson is being held in a secure unit alongside a convicted pedophile rapist, amid growing fears for her safety behind bars.

Ms Patterson, who is awaiting trial on three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder, is currently being held at Victoria’s Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, a maximum security prison with a capacity for 600 women.

Inmates at the prison include “Black Widow” serial killer Robyn Lindholm, gangland matriarch and murderer Judy Moran, violent “petty terrorist” Momena Shoma and Ms. Patterson’s new cellmate: school principal rapist Malka Liefer.

The ultra-Orthodox Jewish director was sentenced to 15 years in prison in August 2023 for despicable sexual abuse of two young high school students.

Ms Patterson, 49, spent four months working with some of Australia’s most violent women after she was arrested and charged following a Wellington mushroom lunch she served at her Leongatha home on July 29.

She was arrested at her home on November 2 and taken to Dame Phyllis Frost, where sources say she needs protection from other prisoners because of her alleged crime.

“If Erin were to step outside the protection, the girls would hurt her,” they told police Herald Sun.

‘She allegedly killed three elderly people. There is a rule: you don’t touch the elderly and you don’t touch babies, so that’s why you go into protection.

“She would have to have a really, really hard time in there because she would only be able to talk to two or three girls, and that’s it.”

Ms Patterson can expect to work with the ‘girls’, some of the country’s most evil women at Victoria’s infamous Dame Phyllis Frost Center (pictured)

Pastor Ian Wilkinson, 70, was the sole survivor of the deadly lunch, which claimed the lives of his wife Heather Wilkinson, 66, and Don and Gail Patterson, both 70.

Mrs. Patterson’s husband, Simon, bailed on lunch at the last minute.

Court documents show Ms. Patterson has been charged four times with the attempted murder of Simon Patterson.

These would have taken place between November 16 and 17, 2021, between May 25 and 27, 2022, on September 6, 2022 and at the mushroom lunch in July 2023.

It is believed Ms Patterson will be housed in a self-contained unit in Dame Phyllis Frost and will have use of a bed, shower, toilet, sink, desk and cupboard.

Because she is in custody, she does not have to work and is believed to have access to a kitchen where she can prepare her own meals.

The prisons’ protection wing also includes Momena Shoma, the Bangladeshi Islamic State fanatic who has continued her violence behind bars.

A typical cell in the women’s prison that will house Erin Patterson, who is admitted to the infamous prison this weekend

Shoma, sentenced to a maximum of 42 years for stabbing a host family in Melbourne in the neck in 2018, attacked a female inmate with garden shears.

After six years were added to her sentence in 2021, she declared: “I’m proud of myself.”

Veronica Marie Nelson died alone in her Dame Phyllis Frost prison cell in January 2020 after at least 49 recorded requests for help were ignored by prison staff.

Earlier this year, an investigation found there had been a cover-up of gross negligence and discrimination that contributed to Ms Nelson’s death.

Victoria Police have spent 20 weeks preparing a piece of evidence against Ms Patterson, which will be presented on Monday.

The prosecution will rely on photographs and police witness statements as evidence of Ms. Patterson’s alleged crimes.

The accused mushroom chef will appear at Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court via video link for a hearing on May 3.