Overview

• The Victorian Supreme Court released Justice Christopher Beale’s redacted pretrial reasons after Patterson’s bid to keep them secret failed
• The rulings explain why alleged earlier poisoning attempts and poison-related digital records were ruled too prejudicial or temporally remote
• Beale’s March decision to order a separate trial for alleged 2021–22 poisoning of estranged husband Simon Patterson led to prosecutors dropping those charges before the lunch trial
• Jurors in the 10-week Morwell trial heard forensic evidence of death cap residue, phone-tower data and witness testimony linking Patterson to the deadly beef Wellington lunch
• Patterson, found guilty of three murders and one attempted murder, will face a two-day pre-sentence hearing in late August and retains a 28-day window to appeal