An Australian judge on Monday sentenced Erin Patterson to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years after she was convicted of murdering three relatives and attempting to murder a fourth by serving death cap mushrooms at a family lunch.
Justice Christopher Beale of the Victoria Supreme Court told the court Patterson’s crimes represented an enormous betrayal of trust, and that she had acted with a continuing intention to kill. Patterson, 50, was convicted in July of murdering Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, after they were served beef Wellington pastries laced with foraged death cap mushrooms at a July 2023 lunch at Patterson’s home. She was also convicted of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, who spent weeks in hospital recovering.
Beale said Patterson had invited her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, to the lunch but had planned to kill him as well if he had accepted. The judge accepted the account of Ian Wilkinson that Patterson had arranged plates so she would eat from an orange-tan plate while her guests were served grey plates, a measure the judge said ensured she would not accidentally eat a poisoned meal. Patterson told the court she had feigned a cancer diagnosis to bring relatives together and said she wanted advice on how to tell her two children; the children were not present at the lunch.
Patterson maintained at trial that the mushrooms were added accidentally. She had at first denied to authorities that she served foraged mushrooms. Prosecutors said a drug that is a specific antidote for death cap mushroom poisoning was not initially administered to the victims, and the judge said she had inflicted untold suffering on extended family and her own children by cutting short three lives.
Both prosecution and defense counsel had agreed that a life sentence was appropriate. Defense lawyers sought a non-parole period of 30 years; prosecutors argued Patterson should never be considered for parole. Beale set the non-parole period at 33 years and backdated the sentence to Patterson’s arrest on Nov. 2, 2023. She has 28 days to appeal her convictions or the severity of the sentence. The judge noted Patterson will be 82 when she becomes eligible for parole in November 2056; she turns 51 on Sept. 30.
Patterson showed little visible emotion during the brief sentencing hearing, which lasted less than an hour. Beale said no psychiatric or psychological reports were provided to the court and inferred that Patterson had instructed her lawyers not to tender such material. He said he would not speculate about her motives but described her behaviour as pitiless and ongoing in its intent.
Outside court, Ian Wilkinson thanked police, prosecutors and health services involved in the case and urged kindness, saying his family had been sustained by support and messages from across Australia and abroad. He did not comment on the sentence itself.
The case has drawn significant public and media attention in Victoria, across Australia and internationally. The Victorian Supreme Court allowed for the sentencing hearing to be broadcast live on television, a first for that court, and Beale noted that Patterson had been classified as a "notorious" prisoner for her own safety. He accepted that her conditions of confinement were harsher than those of mainstream prisoners: she is held separately, spends at least 22 hours a day in her cell, and has not spoken to the only other inmate with whom she shares an adjoining exercise yard. Beale said the unprecedented media coverage and planned books, documentaries and television productions suggested she would remain a high-profile, and therefore vulnerable, prisoner for years to come.
Patterson has been in custody since she was charged in November 2023. She was convicted on three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder following the trial in July.