Mushroom cook Erin Patterson’s ex husband Simon made eerie Instagram comments before three died: ‘It’s only illegal if you get caught’

The estranged husband of the cook accused of serving up a Wellington pie with death cup mushrooms inside once admitted his two favourite sayings are it’s ‘only illegal if you get caught’ and it’s easier to ‘ask for forgiveness than permission’. 

Simon Patterson shares two teenage children with his ex, Erin, who is at the centre of the mysterious deaths of her three in-laws after a lunch in Leongatha, Victoria on July 29th. A fourth man remains in a critical condition after the group were served a dish prepared with the deadly funghi. 

While Mr Patterson was on holiday in South Africa In January 2017, he made the comments about his ‘favourite sayings’ on an Instagram next to a photograph of a leopard devouring a water buffalo in the famous Kruger National Park. 

However, he also posted the disclaimer: ‘There is a time and place for that, and a safari in Africa is not one of them! The few rules in game parks were each created because someone died, and so my best advice is: Don’t die!’

Mr Patterson, who worked as a photographer for the local newsletter the Burra Flyer edited by his parents and ex wife, published an accompanying article on wildlife photography for the site @fstoplounge.

The keen photographer is at the centre of the case after Erin issued a statement saying she dumped a food dehydrator used in the preparation of the fatal lunch at the local tip after Mr Peterson said to her at the hospital: ‘Is that what you used to poison them?’.

Mr Patterson allegedly made the remark after his parents, Dona and Gail Patterson, died in hospital, along with Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson.

Heather’s husband, Baptist pastor Ian Wilkinson remains in a critical condition in Melbourne’s Austin hospital, where he is reportedly waiting for a liver transplant.

The ex-husband of mushroom pie chef, Simon Patterson, above posted a cryptic message while on holiday in South African six years ago about his favourite sayings on ‘not getting caught’ and ‘forgiveness’

A keen photographer, Simon Patterson posted his thoughts next to a photo of a leopard devouring a water buffalo, writing that his favourite sayings are ‘it’s not illegal if you don’t get caught’ and ‘it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission’ 

He apologised about the quality of the image of the leopard – which he captioned ‘If looks could kill! This leopard looked more than a little annoyed at me disturbing his dinner time’ – remarking that it was ‘my first ever Instagram post’.

Mr Patterson has now locked his social media page since his parents’ deaths and the ensuing drama surrounding his ex-wife.

In the article, Mr Patterson provides ‘tips for amateur photographers who want to make the most of their up-coming safari holiday’ about having patience, using the light, and the right equipment.

In several articles for the publication, Mr Patterson is described as ‘an enthusiastic photographer who also likes discovering the truth about things’ who loves ‘hiking and camping in the wilderness and … aims to create images that affect people emotionally.

‘Simon is a country boy who resides in Victoria, Australia.’ 

Erin Patterson is a real estate expert who has bought and sold apartments and houses, owns two million dollar properties, and inherited a stunning waterfront place from her own mother

Alarmed friends posted good wishes to Simon Patterson after he spent time in intensive care last year and his small intestine was operated on after he was not initially expected to live

Simon Patterson, a keen photographer, is pictured (above)since the death of his parents and aunt, and the drama that has engulfed his former wife following the beef wellington pie lunch

Mr Patterson and Ms Patterson own separate residences in the Gippsland region, with him living in Kurumburra where Ian Wilkinson acted as a pastor, and his former wife  in Leongatha at the house where the beef wellington pie was cooked and served. 

Last year, Simon Patterson posted on his local basketball association Facebook page, after he spent that he spent 21 days in intensive care after collapsing at his home in May 2022.

‘I collapsed at home then was in an induced coma for 16 days through which I had three emergency operations mainly on my small intestine, plus an additional planned operation,’ he wrote.

‘My family were asked to come and say goodbye to me twice as I was not expected to live.

‘I have a big scar on my tummy which is healing itself slowly, and I have ICU acquired weakness which is a common condition of people who lie in intensive care for a long time as I did,’ he said.

‘I can walk and do all the normal daily functions myself, however my left shoulder in particular is very weak.’

Ms Patterson has a multimillion dollar property portfolio partly funded by a stunning oceanfront property she inherited from her mother.

The 48-year-old owns the recently-built house at Leongatha now worth around a million dollars and a million dollar villa she bought in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Mount Waverley with money she inherited from her mother.

Ms Patterson’s mother, noted children’s literature professor, Dr Heather Scutter, left  a house on the South Pacific Ocean headland at Eden in her will when she died in early 2019.

Heather Wilkinson (left) died aged 66 after consuming the beef and mushroom pie at Erin Patterson’s house and her husband, Baptist Pastor Ian Wilkinson (right) is in a coma in hospital awaiting a liver transplant

After Erin’s parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson (above) died following the beef wellington lunch at her home, she said of her own mother Heather ‘my mum passed away four years ago and Gail had never been anything but good and kind to me’

Since her inheritance, Erin has bought three properties including a house now infamous for having her children’s ‘Satanic’ scrawlings on the wall and the land on which she built the Leongatha house where she held the Death Cap mushroom pie lunch. 

Ms Patterson returned to that property this week despite complaining she cannot live there because the media has painted her as ‘an evil witch’.

In a lengthy statement this week, Ms Patterson said she was worried she could lose custody of her children after the mushroom fatalities and was ‘devastated to think that these mushrooms may have contributed to the illness suffered by my loved ones’.

It was after the deaths last week of ex-husband Simon’s parents Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, that Ms Patterson – who has been named by police as person of interest – referred to her own mother’s death in 2019. 

Erin bought the land for her Leongatha house four years ago for $260,000 and built the smart two-storey home where she cooked the fateful beef wellington lunch 

Erin’s million-dollar villa was one of three properties she bought months after her own mother died in 2019 and left her an oceanfront him at Eden on the NSW South Coast

‘My mum passed away four years ago and Gail had never been anything but good and kind to me,’ she said, and described Gail Patterson as ‘like the mum I didn’t have’.

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Ms Patterson is responsible for the poisonings. 

Erin Patterson’s own mother Heather died aged 72 in early 2019 and left her daughters the house she had been living in at Eden.

Dr Scutter was a Monash University lecturer in 19th century adult literature and a children’s book critic and author of articles and reviews on children’s literature.

Erin Patterson grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley with her sister, Dr Ceinwen Scutter, a trained vulcanologist, and parents Heather and Hugh .

Mushroom cook Erin Patterson’s children’s literature academic mother Dr Heather Scutter left in her 2019 will this oceanfront home to her children after dying aged around 73

After marrying Gippsland local, engineer and basketball coach Simon Patterson and having their two children, the Pattersons moved to Western Australia for a time and ran a book shop in a southwestern town.

The couple bought a house in remote Qunninup, where they lived for four years before returning to the east coast.

When Ms Patterson’s mother Heather died, she advertised Dr Scutter’s Eden house as having ‘uninterrupted water views that include the gentle curve of Aslings Beach, the dazzling blue of Twofold Bay, and beyond to the awe-inspiring expanse of the South Pacific Ocean’.  

It sold for $900,000 four years ago, and it was after this that Erin bought the Korumburra house now infamous for having so-called ‘Satanic’ death messages scrawled on the walls by her children, who are now aged about 12 and 14.

The three-bedroom house was sold for an $85,000 profit in a seven month turnaround, with Ms Patterson getting a tradesman to paint over her children’s wall graffiti.

The tradie this week sold images of the drawings, which include the children’s names and feature tombstones, daggers and decapitated heads.

Along with scribbles are words including ‘You are dead by the sword’, ‘grandma R.I.P.’ , ‘ME R.I.P.’ and the date ‘August 1, 2021’ with the words ‘you will die within a year’ written underneath.

A few months after her mother Heather’s death, Erin Patterson bought a $931,000 villa in Mount Waverley, a short drive from the Scutter family home where she grew up. 

Around the same time, Erin bought the land for her Leongatha house for $260,000 and built the smart two-storey home where she held the fateful mushroom pie lunch.

Ms Patterson bemoaned her plight this week, telling The Australian she had ‘been painted as an evil witch’ and said the media attention ‘is making it impossible for me to live in’ Leongatha.

 ‘I can’t have friends over. The media is at the house where my children are at. The media are at my sister’s house so I can’t go there. This is unfair.’

The Korumburra house (above) sold last year by Erin Patterson is now infamous for the so-called ‘Death Wall’ of Satanic messages scrawled by her children which included daggers, tombstones and 

Erin Patterson’s mother’s house sold for $900,000 four years ago