Erin Patterson, USA News (Victoria, Australia): Australia’s mushroom murderer must never be released from a prison, a court has ruled. On Friday, Erin Patterson, 52, failed to overturn her murder convictions on appeal. She was found guilty of murdering three relatives and attempting to kill another after she served them a toxic mushroom-laced meal in 2023. In September 2025, she was sentenced to life with a minimum of 33 years.
Three judges in Victoria’s Court of Appeal have now thrown out her appeal. Justice Stephen McLeish stated that the offending was extraordinarily cold and calculated and stood to be denounced in the strongest terms. He added that after anxious consideration, the panel concluded the case involved such shocking criminality that it is inappropriate to fix a non-parole period.
Patterson killed her parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, and her aunt-in-law, Heather Wilkinson, by serving them individual portions of beef Wellington containing death cap mushrooms. Mrs Wilkinson’s husband, Ian, a local pastor, also ate the toxic lunch at Patterson’s rural home in Leongatha, more than 80 miles southeast of Melbourne. He survived the poisoning, but spent weeks in hospital and has suffered ongoing health issues as a result.
Appeal Arguments and Trial Details
The media frenzy surrounding Patterson’s highly publicised trial resulted in members of the jury staying at the same hotel as members of the prosecution, a police witness, and journalists, even though the accommodation was intended to avoid outside influence. This was the key point of Patterson’s seven-part appeal.
Her legal team also argued that barrister Nannette Rogers treated the killer in an unfair and oppressive way during a five-day cross-examination, and that jurors should not have been allowed to witness certain evidence provided by Facebook friends. Patterson’s own husband, Simon, was meant to attend the lunch but cancelled because he believed his wife had made repeated attempts to poison him.
Patterson has insisted she did not intend to include death cap mushrooms in the meal. However, mobile phone tracking data showed she travelled to areas where the toxic fungus was known to be. Her team argued this evidence should not have been seen in court. Patterson’s lawyers now have less than a month to appeal to Australia’s High Court.
