Court has finished for the day.

Follow along tomorrow for more updates.

Messages between Patterson and her former parents-in-law have been shown to the court as part of the defence’s case.

In the messages, which were sent on various dates throughout January 2022, Don and Gail inquired about Patterson’s health and she expressed concern about them catching COVID-19 as there were outbreaks within their community.

The court has been shown additional messages Patterson sent to friends she made in the Keli Lane Facebook group, complaining about her marital issues and former parents-in-law.

While some of the messages, which were sent around December 2022, were already shown to the court in the prosecution’s case, Mandy said others were left out.

The revised message exchange (which redacted the names of some contributors) was as follows:

Anonymous user:

What morons.

Erin:

I said to him about fifty times yesterday I didn’t want them to adjudicate. Now I know they are a lost cause….

Anonymous user:

So you haven’t heard from Simon.

Anonymous user:

It’s pathetic.

Even if he doesn’t want to talk about your marriage, they could at least demand to know how he is financially supporting the kids

Erin:

No nothing. But also more happened. Don rang me last night to say that he thought there was a solution to all this if Simon and I get together and try to talk and pray together and he also said Simon had indicated there was a solution….

Anonymous user:

Well you have tried. I would wipe them too now

Anonymous user:

At least you have given them something to think about

Erin:

I suspect the best thing I can do is just forget about all of them and live my life. Simon is probably loving how upset I am about all this.

Another user:

You are human and you have every right to be upset and angry. If he is loving that then that makes him even worse. Hopefully he will have to pay up soon

Anonymous user:

I’m so sorry Erin...

Mandy put it to Eppingstall that the members of the group appeared to be talking about various aspects of their lives, as a way of venting and seeking support.

Eppingstall agreed that appeared to be the case.

During cross-examination, Mandy put it to Eppingstall that emails sent on August 4 indicated he was aware at that point that Patterson had been spending time at her Melbourne property in 2023.

Mandy noted she stayed at her Mount Waverley home from April 11 to April 14, 2023.

Mandy put it to Eppingstall that even though he was aware of her Melbourne trip, he did not ask her about it in her police interview on August 5, 2023.

He agreed that he did not ask her about it.

Mandy has suggested to Eppingstall that CCTV obtained by Victoria Police that purportedly shows Patterson’s son at Subway on July 29, 2023 may not actually be him.

Earlier this week, the jury was shown the CCTV footage which appears to show Patterson dropping off her son in her red MG, him walking out and entering Subway, while she drove away.

The court heard her vehicle returned to pick him up 11 minutes later, but police were unable to track where the vehicle went while her son was inside the store.

During cross-examination, Eppingstall explained they were able to ascertain the time of the Subway visit by asking Simon Patterson to provide his son’s bank records.

Eppingstall said they took that approach after discovering an “inconsistency” in call charge records and the reported visit to the fast food chain.

Mandy asked how much footage was obtained from the Subway store, and Eppingstall said an hour.

Mandy noted there was an issue with the initial time stamp on the footage (the court previously heard it was an hour slow), which Eppingstall agreed.

Mandy then showed Eppingstall two different pictures of Patterson’s son.

He then redirected the detective back to a still image taken from the CCTV and suggested to Eppingstall the boy in Subway was a different person.

The court has been shown transactions record from visits Patterson made to Koonwarra Transfer Station.

The court previously heard individuals are required to pay to drop certain items off at that transfer station.

The records indicated that Patterson had made several payments for item drop-offs in 2022 and 2023.

Mandy highlighted to Eppingstall that some of those transactions indicated that she had used EFTPOS, while others showed she paid cash.

Eppingstall confirmed that appeared to be the case.

Detective Eppingstall is being questioned about the search at Patterson’s home on 5 August, 2023.

The court heard police arrived around 11.40am and Patterson had not been warned officers would be attending that day.

The court heard the officers knocked on the door, Patterson answered, and they went inside.

Eppingstall confirmed he stayed with her for the majority of the search while other officers scoured the property.

He said there were occasions she needed to go to the toilet and attend to her daughter, and during those times she was accompanied by a female officer, rather than him.

Eppingstall said Patterson was allowed to retain her phone to make arrangements regarding her children and contact her lawyer.

Prior to her phone later being seized, the court heard Patterson went by herself into a television room, to the right from the front entry of the house, and closed the door for privacy as she contacted a lawyer.

The court heard the legal phone call lasted around 14 minutes.

Asked by Mandy if Patterson was in the room for a total of 14 minutes, Eppingstall said he believed it was longer.

“I think it was about 20 minutes,” he said.

Eppingstall said he did not write down the exact duration, but explained he did make a note that she came out of the room about 2pm (which formed the basis of his estimate).

Mandy put it to Eppingstall that there were many electronic devices seized, but there were also devices not seized from the property - including a Nokia phone.

The court previously heard phone records indicate Patterson’s sim card was taken from a Samsung device and put into a Nokia during the time police were at her home.

Eppingstall confirmed the Nokia device was not located during the search.

Mandy put it to Eppingstall that Patterson mentioned a Nokia device during her interview, which he agreed.

Mandy then showed Eppingstall several photos of Patterson’s home which were taken on 5 August 2023.

Mandy suggested there were items in the photographs that appeared to be digital devices.

He asked Eppingstall if he was aware of those devices.

Eppingstall said he could not confirm as he was with Patterson, not searching the house.

He accepted there could be a possibility they were devices, but said officers were searching the property with the purpose of identifying and collecting electronics.

Defence Barrister Colin Mandy has asked Eppingstall about analysis Victoria Police obtained from telecommunications expert Dr Matthew Sorell.

The court previously heard evidence from Sorell that analysis of phone data records showed Patterson had travelled to Loch and Outtrim in early 2023.

Eppingstall said when Victoria police requested Sorell’s services, they did not tell him specific locations of interest, just that they wanted the location data, as they did not want to bias the data he collected.

Mandy put it to Eppingstall that Sorrel offered to do line-of-sight analysis, which entails physically visiting areas to see which base stations are closest in view, but the police turned it down.

Mandy added that Sorell gave evidence about the benefits of line-of-sight analysis, which suggested that if a tower was in view, it meant a device was likely to connect to it.

Eppingstall explained that there was not strong science to support the benefits of line-of-sight analysis and although he may want all of the possible evidence available, he has to justify expenditure to his bosses.

Mandy then put it to Eppingstall that Sorell said EBM (event-based monitoring) data was more granular in providing information, compared to CCR data (call charge records) alone.

The court previously heard EBM data refers to when a phone performs a task that requires a data connection, such as scanning for new emails or receives a notification.

Mandy asked Eppingstall why, given Sorell had previously explained the importance of EBMs to the court, police did not obtain EBM records spanning a greater period (rather than just a few months in 2023).

“To get EBMs for a year is well into six figures and my boss isn’t too keen when I spend too much money.,” Eppingstall said.

“So we have to be selective and targeted.”

The court has heard Simon Patterson gave his phone, along with his parents’ phones, to Homicide Squad Senior Constable Eppingstall on August 6, 2023 for the purpose of analysis.

The phone was returned to Simon at the end of the day on August 6 as he needed it in the wake of his parents’ death.

The court heard he then handed his phone back to police on September 12, 2023 for analysis and, at that point, indicated to Eppingstall, that he had changed his phone handset but was using the same SIM card.

Cellebrite software was used to then extract messages from his phone.

The court heard around 280 messages - or around 70 pages of exchanges - between Simon and Patterson were obtained from his device.

Under cross-examination, Homicide Squad Senior Constable Eppingstall said he obtained Patterson’s bank records from July 1, 2023 — August 4, 2023.

He said he was unsure why that specific period of time was selected.

Mandy put it to Eppingstall that Patterson’s bank records indicated she had made purchases in the Glen Waverley area in 2023.

Eppingstall said he could not remember specifically without seeing records.

He was then directed to records that showed several Glen Waverley purchases, including in early July 2023.