‘Mushroom murderer’ Erin Patterson loses appeal to overturn conviction and gets longer sentence
‘Mushroom murderer’ Erin Patterson’s attempt to appeal her conviction has failed, with the judges also ordering that she never be released from prison.
Patterson, 51, was jailed over the July 2023 deaths of her former in-laws Gail and Don Patterson, both 70, as well as Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66.
The trial was told that Patterson had invited them to her home in rural Victoria, Australia, and served them beef Wellington that had been laced with death cap mushrooms.
The jury was told the Wellingtons were served up in individual portions and that Patterson ate from a different coloured plate to everyone else, while an investigation into her internet search history found that she had looked up the poisonous mushrooms online prior to the deadly meal she served up.
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The mum-of-two was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson, who had eaten the same meal as the others and became seriously ill, spending weeks in hospital and undergoing a liver transplant.
Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon, was also supposed to attend the lunch but decided to cancel at the last minute.
During her trial, Patterson maintained that the deaths had been a 'terrible accident', but after six days of deliberations a jury found her guilty of three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.
In September last year, she was given a 33-year jail sentence, with Justice Christopher Beale calling Patterson’s crimes ‘senseless’.
Shortly after her sentencing, her lawyer Richard Edney said his client planned to appeal her conviction
In August, the appeal hearing got underway at Victoria state Court of Appeal with Patterson’s legal team arguing there were several grounds for her conviction to be overturned, including a mix-up with hotel bookings that meant the jury were staying in the same place as the prosecution, a key police witness and the media.
Meanwhile, prosecutors argued that her original sentence of life with a non-parole period of 33 years was too lenient.
Today, (Friday 30 October), three judges threw out the appeal against her convictions and agreed with prosecutors that her original sentence was inadequate as it allowed the possibility of freedom in the future.
Justice Stephen McLeish said Patterson’s ‘offending was extraordinarily cold and calculated and stands to be denounced in the strongest terms’.
He continued: “The applicant’s murderous intent dated back to the invitations to lunch, it persisted through the lunch that the poison was administered.
“We have concluded that the case involved such calculated criminality that it is inappropriate to fix a non-parole period.”
According to The Guardian, Patterson showed ‘no emotion’ on the video feed when she was told her appeal had failed and that her sentence had now been extended, meaning she will die behind bars.
Today’s ruling makes Patterson one of the only women in Australian history to be given a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Patterson now has 28 days to decide if she will seek to convince the High Court of Australia to hear another appeal over the case, her final appeal option.
Topics: Erin Patterson, Crime, Australia
Claire Reid