An Australian judge handed down a life imprisonment sentence with a minimum of 33 years without parole to Erin Patterson, a triple-murderer convicted of poisoning four of her estranged husband’s relatives with death cap mushrooms. Justice Christopher Beale of the Victoria state Supreme Court described Patterson’s actions as a significant breach of trust.
Patterson was found guilty in July of killing Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, by serving them beef Wellington pastries spiked with foraged death cap mushrooms. She was also convicted of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, who suffered serious health issues and spent weeks in the hospital.
During the sentencing, Beale emphasized that the victims were all related to Patterson through marriage and had shown kindness to her and her children over the years. By cutting short three lives and causing lasting harm to Ian Wilkinson, Patterson not only devastated the extended Patterson and Wilkinson families but also caused immense suffering to her own children by depriving them of their beloved grandparents.
Both the prosecution and defense agreed that a life sentence was appropriate for the 50-year-old on three murder counts and one attempted murder charge. The defense requested parole eligibility after 30 years, while prosecutors argued against parole, stating that Patterson did not deserve leniency.
Beale revealed that Patterson had planned to kill her husband as well if he had attended the lunch. She had fabricated a cancer diagnosis to bring the family together, claiming she needed advice on breaking the news to her children, who were not present at the gathering. Beale accepted Ian Wilkinson’s testimony that Patterson served her guests on grey plates while she ate from an orange-tan plate to avoid consuming the poisoned food accidentally.
The judge declined to speculate on Patterson’s motive, while she maintained that the inclusion of foraged mushrooms in the meals was accidental. Patterson has been in custody since her arrest on November 2, 2023, and her sentence is retroactively dated to that time. She has 28 days from the sentencing to appeal her convictions and the severity of her sentence.
The case has generated significant public interest locally, nationally, and internationally, leading the Victorian Supreme Court to allow the broadcast of the sentencing hearing on television for the first time.