'You're guilty' - Doctor who treated Erin Patterson

The doctor who raised the alarm about Erin Patterson says he knew something was wrong the moment she walked into his hospital and he’s never forgotten the feeling.

“She said the mushrooms came from Woolworths,” Dr Chris Webster said.

“If she had said she foraged them herself, it might have been a tragic mistake. But that answer? That’s when I thought - you’re guilty.”

Webster was on duty at Leongatha Hospital the day Patterson turned up complaining of gastro, just hours after her former in-laws Heather and Ian Wilkinson were rushed to intensive care.

She would later be found guilty of murdering Heather, Don and Gail Patterson and attempting to murder Ian, all poisoned after eating a beef Wellington she served at her home.

Webster said her response immediately set off alarm bells.

“I knew from that moment. And I stand by that call.”

He was the first to alert police, phoning them after what he described as a deeply unsettling encounter with Patterson - one he says still lingers.

“She doesn’t exist on the same level of reality as most people,” he said. “There’s an eerie disquiet being around her. She’s not menacing… just cold. It gets under your skin.”

CCTV released during the trial shows Patterson calmly arriving at the hospital before discharging herself against medical advice.

Other new vision shows another doctor photographing leftover beef Wellington - part of the race to identify the suspected death cap mushrooms.

Webster also cared for Heather Wilkinson, who later died. He described her as gentle and thoughtful.

“She told me the meal was delicious,” he recalled. “Heather and Ian were quiet but not distressed. They were mindful of each other. It was incredibly sad.”

From the very beginning, he says, there were suspicions that this wasn’t an accident.

“I can’t go into the details - but yes, there was suspicion early on,” he said.

The case has taken a toll on the small community of Leongatha, where some hospital staff personally knew the victims.

“One of my colleagues was close friends with them. We had to be careful how we talked about it in the tea room,” Webster said. “When the trial began, it was almost a relief. We could finally speak openly.”

Now, he’s decided to speak out publicly, not just as a witness, but as someone pulled unexpectedly into the heart of an international story.

“I’m a small cog in a complex machine. But if people are going to talk about my role, I’d rather they hear it from me.”

Patterson is expected to be sentenced in the coming weeks.

Not long after Erin Patterson left Leongatha Hospital, Dr Chris Webster picked up the phone and called police after he ran Patterson's phone several times urging her to return to hospital. It would become a key moment in the prosecution's case.

Below is part of the exchange, as played to the jury during the trial:

Operator: “Hello, what address do you need. The police?”

Dr Webster: “This is Dr Chris Webster from Leongatha Hospital. I have a concern about a patient who presented here earlier, but has left the building and is potentially exposed to a fatal toxin from mushroom poisoning.

“I have tried several times to get her on her mobile phone.”

Operator: “What’s her name?”

Dr Webster: “The last name is Patterson. P-A-T-T-E-R-S-O-N.”

Operator: “First name?”

Dr Webster: “Erin. E-R-I-N.”

Operator: “When did she present at hospital?”

Webster: “At 8:05.”

Operator: “Today?”

“Mushroom poisoning, you said?”

Dr Webster: “Yes, so there were five people who ate a meal on Saturday. Two of them are in intensive care at Dandenong Hospital. Two have been transferred to Dandenong Hospital. And Erin presented this morning with symptoms of poisoning.”

Operator: “And what happened when she presented? She just got up and left?”

Dr Webster: No, there was time for a nurse to begin observations, and I was managing the other critically unwell patients, so I had a brief chat with her about where the mushrooms were obtained. After that, while I was attending the other patients, the nurse informed me she had discharged herself against medical advice.”

“She was only here for five minutes.”

Operator: “ I’ve got the police notified for ***. Would you like them to contact you with an outcome?”

Dr Webster: “Yes, I would be happy for them to contact me at any time on the mobile number.”

“Thank you very much for your help.”