Erin Patterson, a 52-year-old Australian woman convicted of poisoning her estranged husband’s parents and aunt with toxic mushrooms, has lost her appeal against her convictions and has been resentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The decision, handed down by the Court of Appeal in Melbourne on Thursday, means Patterson will spend the remainder of her life in prison, instead of becoming eligible for parole at age 82 under her original sentence.
Patterson was found guilty last year of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder for the deaths of Don and Gail Patterson, both aged 70, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, as well as the attempted murder of Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson. The victims fell ill after consuming beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms at a lunch hosted by Patterson.
The Court of Appeal, comprising Justices Stephen McLeish, Lesley Taylor, and Peter Kidd, upheld the conviction and dismissed all seven grounds of Patterson’s appeal. The court also accepted an appeal by New South Wales’s Director of Public Prosecutions seeking a harsher sentence. Justice McLeish described Patterson’s offending as “extraordinarily cold and calculated,” highlighting that her intent to kill was sustained over a period of nearly three weeks, from inviting the victims through the illness and deaths. He described the crime as involving a series of deliberate deceptions, including false claims of having cancer, repeated denials of foraging mushrooms, and destruction of evidence.
The court found it inappropriate to fix a non-parole period due to the severity of the crimes, emphasizing the need to affirm society’s fundamental value on human life. Justice McLeish stated Patterson’s actions warranted the strongest denunciation, characterizing the criminality as shocking and severe enough to justify life without parole.
Patterson was not present in the courtroom but appeared via video link and showed no visible reaction to the judgment. Her legal team had challenged the fairness of her trial, arguing among other points that the jury was improperly housed in the same hotel as police and prosecution teams during deliberations—a situation the court acknowledged was “highly undesirable” but ultimately found no evidence of improper influence or miscarriage of justice.
The court also dismissed arguments that certain expert evidence relating to possible foraging sites was unfairly prejudicial.
This resentencing makes Patterson only the second woman in Australian history to receive a life sentence without parole, following Katherine Knight, who was sentenced in 2001 for the homicide of her partner.
Patterson is now expected to seek leave to appeal to the High Court to challenge the decision further. Family members of the victims expressed emotional reactions in the courtroom following the ruling, while law enforcement officials involved in the case appeared relieved. No statements were made outside the court.