Erin Patterson: Dr Chris Webster reveals moment he knew mushroom cook was a ‘disturbed, sociopathic’ murderer

The doctor who notified police about Erin Patterson has spoken for the first time since the guilty verdict, revealing the moment he realised the mushroom murderer was a “disturbed sociopathic nut bag”.

Dr Chris Webster dialled triple zero in the morning of July 31, 2023, after Patterson discharged herself from Leongatha Hospital within five minutes of being there.

Patterson’s ex-husband’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, were in a critical condition at Dandenong Hospital, while Ian and Heather Wilkinson were receiving treatment at Leongatha Hospital after eating a serving of beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms.

Now, the transcript of his call with an emergency operator has been released.

“This is Dr Chris Webster calling from Leongatha Hospital. I have a concern regarding a patient that presented here earlier, that has left the building and is potentially exposed to a fatal toxin from mushroom poisoning, and I’ve tried several times to get hold of her on her mobile phone,” Dr Webster told the operator.

“The last name is Patterson. Erin.”

In a short conversation that followed, Dr Webster explained to the operator that “five people ate a meal on Saturday and two of them are in intensive care at Dandenong Hospital.”

“Two have just been transferred from Leongatha Hospital to Dandenong Hospital, and Erin presented this morning with symptoms of poisoning,” he continued.

The operator asked what happened when Patterson presented and then quickly discharged herself.

“It was time for the nurse to begin observations and I was managing the other critically unwell patients,” he said.

“I had a brief chat to her about where the mushrooms were obtained, and while I was attending (to) the other patients, nurses informed me that she had discharged herself against medical advice.”

The phone call marks the first time police would hear about the deadly lunch that would eventually claim the lives of Don and Gail, as well as Gail’s sister Heather.

Heather Wilkinson’s last words to doctor

Dr Webster vividly recalled the moments of that morning, telling The Age that he was managing the symptoms of the Wilkinsons, who were suffering from what first appeared to be regular food poisoning, until a frantic call came in from Dandenong Hospital.

The caller was ringing to tell Dr Webster that they suspected Don and Gail, who arrived at Dandenong Hospital the previous night, were suffering from toxic mushroom poisoning.

Dr Webster said his thoughts went from “oh f***” to “we have to get this medicine into these patients’ bloodstream as quickly as possible.”

“There was just a sense of absolute kind of disbelief that this is happening, and probably an element of disappointment with myself because... it wasn’t an idea that formed in my mind to ask about the mushrooms.

“The idea that it could be something so enormous – a premeditated poisoning of a Michelin-star meal with mushrooms – was so far from what my brain was prepared to accept,” he told the publication.

Dr Webster revealed that the last words Ms Wilkinson said to him before the ambulance left were, “Thank you for looking after me.”

“I knew she was going off to her death,” he admitted.

“Heather was one of the gentlest souls, (the) kindest person. Her liver is falling apart inside her body, and the thing that she makes sure she does before she leaves the hospital in an ambulance: thank the doctor.”

Dr Webster has also revealed that he suspected Patterson was a murderer when she told him she purchased the mushrooms used in the deadly meal from Woolworths.

“If she said she picked them, it would have been a very different mindset for me because there would have been an instant assumption it was all a tragic accident,” he told the Herald Sun.

“But once she said that answer, my thoughts were, ‘holy f**king shit, you f**king did it, you crazy bitch, you poisoned them all’.

“The turning point for me was that moment.”

Dr Webster said Patterson was a “disturbed sociopathic nut bag”.

“She wasn’t freaking out about the safety of her children,” he said.

“Looking into her eyes, I thought ‘I don’t know what planet you’re on but you’re not on earth.

“If it was an Agatha Christie novel, this is how one of her characters would have done it.”

The motive behind the murders is still unknown.