Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial jury fails to reach a verdict on fifth day of deliberations: As it happened

Jurors in the Erin Patterson murder trial have concluded their deliberations for today.

The jury will resume deliberations at 10.30am tomorrow.

The Daily Mail’s live coverage will commence from 9am local time on Saturday, July 5.

Media, court watchers, true crime fans and various other people including members of the prosecution are waiting around the small Latrobe Valley courthouse where jurors are deliberating.

Once the jury reaches a verdict on whether Patterson is guilty or not guilty of murdering three lunch guests and attempting to murder Mr Wilkinson, parties including Justice Beale and the defence and prosecution will be notified.

Mr Wilkinson (pictured below) has been present in person for most of the trial but hasn’t been sighted since the jury was retired to deliberate.

Simon Patterson, Erin’s estranged husband, has not been seen at the court since the early days of the trial, which kicked off on April 28.

The next step after the jury alerts the court it has reached a verdict will be to give parties 15 minutes’ notice to return to the courtroom for the result.

As a result, most media and legal representatives are keeping very close to courtroom 4 at Morwell where the verdict will be delivered.

Most interested parties are in the courthouse, but some are waiting at a nearby café and other media are gathering outside.

The jury will hand their verdict to Justice Beale via his tipstaff and then they will be asked to confirm the verdict.

Justice Beale will then thank the jury for their service and the trial will be over.

Daily Mail Australia is on hand to publish the verdict as soon as it is given.

Justice Beale detailed the ‘ultimate issue’ the jury needs to consider, which is whether Patterson deliberately included death cap mushrooms in her lunch.

‘Now the ultimate issues are whether the accused deliberately included death cap mushrooms in the beef Wellingtons, and whether she had the state of mind necessary for the alleged offences at the time she served the beef Wellingtons to them,’ Justice Beale said.

‘There are a number of issues that are related to those ultimate issues, and they include whether the accused had good reasons not to kill her lunch guests.

‘Whether she foraged for edible mushrooms, why she cooked individual beef Wellingtons, why the children weren’t at the lunch, whether she had a different plate to a guest, whether she allocated her own plate.

‘Whether she engaged in incriminating conduct after the lunch.’

On Monday, Pastor Ian Wilkinson, with his arms crossed, looked sombre as the jury was instructed on how it should deal with the charge related to his attempted murder.

‘Turning to the elements of attempted murder, as you know… to prove that the accused committed the offence of attempted murder, in relation to Ian Wilkinson, the prosecution must prove the following four elements beyond reasonable doubt,’ Justice Beale said.

‘One, that the accused consciously, voluntarily and deliberately served Ian Wilkinson a poisoned meal, that’s the alleged conduct.

‘Two, the accused’s alleged conduct was more than merely preparatory to killing Ian Wilkinson, and immediately and not remotely connected with killing Ian Wilkinson.

‘Three, at the time of the alleged conduct, the accused intended to kill Ian Wilkinson, and four, the accused’s alleged conduct had no lawful justification or excuse.’

The prosecution case was led by Dr Nanette Rogers SC (pictured).

The jury in the ‘mushroom case’ trial of Erin Patterson has entered its fifth straight day of deliberations.

Victoria Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale concluded his address to the jury – or ‘charge’ – on Monday afternoon before the jury retired to deliberate on the verdict.

Two jurors were balloted out, leaving 12 to decide Patterson’s fate.

The five women and seven men will resume their deliberations at 10.30am, meaning there is a possibility a verdict in the murder trial, which has garnered worldwide attention, could come today.

Should they not reach a verdict on Friday, the jury may continue its deliberations into Saturday. However, they have discretion about how long they sit for on that day.

Patterson, 50, is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, after allegedly serving them a beef Wellington lunch made with death cap mushrooms.

Patterson is also accused of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, Pastor Ian Wilkinson, who survived the lunch after spending several weeks in an intensive care unit.

The court heard Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon (pictured), was also invited to the gathering at her home in Leongatha, in Victoria’s Gippsland region, but didn’t attend.

Witnesses told the jury that Patterson ate her serving from a smaller, differently-coloured plate to those of her guests, who ate off four grey plates.

Patterson told authorities she bought dried mushrooms from an unnamed Asian store in the Monash area of Melbourne, but health inspectors could find no evidence of this.