00:00Good afternoon, we're breaking into programming with a major development in Erin Patterson's triple murder trial.
00:06Abby Dinham has been covering the case and joins us live now from Morwell in regional Victoria.
00:11Abby, the jury has reached a verdict.
00:17That's right, Jen. As we speak, Justice Christopher Beale is re-entering the court along with the 12 jurors ready to hand down their verdict.
00:25They retired last Monday to begin their deliberation, so that's six days of deliberations, around about 30 hours.
00:33They say they've reached a unanimous decision on the three counts of murder, one of attempted murder.
00:38Now, Jen, I'm holding my phone just because we've got two reporters inside the courtroom as we speak who are going to text me the verdicts as they come to light.
00:46We know that Erin Patterson pleaded not guilty to all the charges maintaining the deaths of three of her relatives
00:52and the near-fatal poisoning of a fourth was all a tragic accident.
00:57It goes back to her serving them a beef wellington that contained death cap mushrooms in July 2023.
01:04So, now almost two years on from the deaths of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson.
01:10We're minutes away from hearing a verdict.
01:12Abby, are members of the Patterson and Wilkinson families there?
01:16They're not, Jen.
01:20They haven't been at court during this deliberation phase.
01:23We understand that they'll be watching the verdict being handed down via a live stream from the court.
01:28As you can probably imagine, after all of this time in the international spotlight, they might want to have this moment in private.
01:36Understandable.
01:37Well, Abby, who is in court?
01:38We've got the prosecution team, the defence team.
01:44We've got the homicide detectives who were in charge of the case and members of the public.
01:50Jen, speaking to my reporter inside, the line was literally snaking around the hallways of the courthouse there for people wanting to get in.
01:58And the public gallery, it's full.
02:01How did people actually get into the court today?
02:03Well, there's a handful of court watchers who've been here every day.
02:09But when the announcement came that the verdict was about to be handed back, there was literally a rush to try and get in, to try and get a seat in there.
02:16So it's definitely full.
02:18We understand that there's a number of police as well and security has increased as we're waiting to hear this verdict.
02:26Abby, the trial has garnered global attention.
02:29How large is the media contingent today?
02:33Ange, sorry, Ange, I'm just going to interrupt you there.
02:38We've got one of the verdicts handed down.
02:41The charge of attempted murder against Ian Wilkinson, guilty.
02:46Okay.
02:47And also charge of murder against Heather Wilkinson, guilty.
02:53Two more charges to come, Jen.
02:58So just the charge of murder of Gail Patterson, Erin Patterson is guilty.
03:04And the attempted murder also guilty, Abby.
03:09Attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, guilty.
03:11And on the fourth charge of murder of Don Patterson, Erin Patterson is guilty.
