Australian woman jailed for life after serving toxic mushroom lunch

An Australian court on Monday sentenced Erin Patterson to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years for poisoning three of her estranged husband's relatives with toxic death cap mushrooms.

Patterson was convicted in July after an 11-week trial of murdering Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, with a lunch of beef Wellington pastries laced with foraged poisonous mushrooms.

She was also convicted of trying to murder Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, who spent weeks in hospital after eating the poisonous fungi.

Her former husband, Simon Patterson, was invited to the lunch in July 2023 but did not attend.

“Your victims were all your relatives by marriage. More than that, they had all been good to you and your children over many years, as you acknowledged in your testimony,” Justice Christopher Beale told the Victoria state Supreme Court after sentencing Patterson.

Both prosecution and defence lawyers had agreed that a life sentence was an appropriate punishment for the then-50-year-old on three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.

Defence lawyers had asked for Patterson to become eligible for parole after serving 30 years. Prosecutors had argued she should never be considered for parole because she did not deserve the court’s mercy.

Unknown motive

Judge Beale said he would not speculate on Patterson's motive, but claimed that she had also intended to kill her husband if he had accepted her invitation to the gathering.

Patterson had pretended to receive a cancer diagnosis as a reason to bring the group together. She claimed to have wanted advice on how to break the news to her two children, who were not present at the lunch.

Beale accepted Ian Wilkinson's account that the guests were served grey plates while Patterson ate from an orange-tan plate. This was to ensure she didn't accidentally eat a poisoned meal, Beale said.

Patterson — who pleaded not guilty — has claimed that the deaths were a tragic accident.

She has been held in custody since she was charged in November 2023. Her sentence is backdated until then. She has 28 days from her sentencing to appeal against her convictions and the severity of her sentence.

Due to the enormous international interest in the case, the court granted a television camera permission to film Beale handing down his sentencing remarks inside the courtroom for the first time in the Australian state.