An Australian woman, Erin Patterson, has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years after being found guilty of poisoning three of her estranged husband’s relatives with deadly mushrooms.
The sentencing was delivered on Monday by the Victoria State Supreme Court, following Patterson’s conviction in July 2025 after an 11-week trial. She was found guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
The court heard that in July 2023, Patterson served a lunch of beef Wellington pastries laced with foraged death cap mushrooms, resulting in the deaths of Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson. Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, also consumed the meal and became critically ill but survived after spending several weeks in hospital.
Patterson’s former husband, Simon Patterson, was also invited to the lunch but did not attend.
Delivering the sentence, Justice Christopher Beale told the court:
“Your victims were all your relatives by marriage. More than that, they had been kind to you and your children for many years, as you yourself acknowledged.”
While Patterson pleaded not guilty, claiming the deaths were a tragic accident, the judge said the evidence showed otherwise. He accepted testimony that Patterson served her guests on grey plates while using an orange-tan plate for herself—believed to be an effort to avoid accidentally consuming the poisoned food.
The court also heard that Patterson had fabricated a story about having cancer to bring the group together under the pretense of seeking advice on how to inform her children, who were not present at the lunch.
Prosecutors argued that she had also intended to kill her husband had he attended the meal. They urged the court to deny her any chance of parole, citing the calculated nature of her actions and the absence of remorse.
Although the defence acknowledged the severity of the crimes, they requested parole eligibility after 30 years. In the end, Justice Beale imposed a non-parole period of 33 years, backdated to November 2023, when Patterson was first taken into custody.
Due to intense international interest, the court allowed a television camera to record the sentencing—a first in Victoria’s legal history.
Patterson now has 28 days to appeal her conviction or sentence.
