Text messages reveal accused mushroom killer’s “horrible upbringing”
Texts that alleged triple murderer Erin Patterson sent to a friend have emerged revealing her "horrible upbringing".
The texts were sent shortly after the death of Patterson's mum Heather Scutter in 2019, where she described her mother as "cold" and "weird".
“My mum was ultra weird her whole life,” she wrote.
“We had a horrible upbringing. Mum was essentially a cold robot. It was like being brought up in a Russian orphanage where they don’t touch babies.
"That's what my psych reckons. She said she wishes she could have studied my mum lol."
The messages, obtained by the Herald Sun, also revealed Patterson's lack of connection with her late father Eitan Scutter, who she called "a doormat."
“Dad wanted to be warm and loving to us but mum wouldn’t let him because it would spoil us so he did as he was told,” she said.
“She would shout at him if he did the wrong thing so he became very meek and compliant.
“My sister and I would hide in our room most of the time so we couldn’t do anything wrong.”
These texts have emerged after a former colleague of Patterson described her as “eccentric” and “abrasive”, during her time as an air traffic controller in the early 2000s.
The former colleague also told the Herald Sun that Patterson was highly intelligent and capable as she was able to graduate from the challenging training course and work independently in the field.
“She was rated in the field and was actually responsible for running airspace for a while,” the former colleague told the publication.
“She’s very bright and much brighter than people might think. She managed to get guys wrapped around her little finger although she was very unkempt … and she was abrasive.”
A spokesperson from Airservices Australia had also confirmed that Patterson was employed as an air traffic controller from 12 February 2001 until 28 November 2002.
Patterson has been charged with three counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder, after being accused of serving up a beef Wellington pie that contained death cap mushrooms which resulted in the tragic deaths of Heather Wilkinson, Gail Patterson and Don Patterson.
The attempted murder charges relate to her estranged husband Simon Patterson, and Heather's husband and Baptist church pastor, Ian Wilkinson who miraculously survived but was hospitalised in critical conditions for nearly two months.
Patterson's two children were also in attendance, but did not consume the same meal.
Ian has since been released and attended his wife's memorial in October.
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