INFAMOUS mushroom murderer Erin Patterson has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of the “horrendous” triple murder of her in-laws.
The 50-year-old will serve at least 33 years behind bars after she lured her former in-laws to lunch at her home where she poisoned them with a Beef Wellington.
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She was handed three life sentences for the murders of her former parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66.
They tragically died after eating the Beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms.
She was also handed a 25-year sentence for the attempted murder of Heather’s husband Reverend Ian Wilkinson.
These sentences will be served concurrently, with a non-parole period of 33 years. This means she will be eligible for release in 2056 – when she is 83.
In July 2023, Patterson had gathered together her ex-husband Simon’s relatives for a Saturday lunch at her home in Leongatha, Victoria.
She served up a Beef Wellington containing death cap mushrooms, and her guests soon fell violently ill.
Her former parents-in-law Don and Gail, and Gail’s sister, Heather, all died within a week.
Pastor Ian Wilkinson was the only person – other than Patterson – who survived the deadly lunch.
But he was left in critical condition and spent almost two months being treated in the Austin Hospital – including time spent in a coma.
Patterson’s ex-husband Simon had also been invited to the lunch but he declined, texting her the night before that he felt “uncomfortable” about it all.
He had rejected the lunch invite “out of fear” as he believed his ex had tried to poison him three times before.
After they separated in 2015, he stopped eating any food she had prepared.
He said he’d become seriously ill after eating meals cooked by her.
Simon said her crimes have robbed their 16-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter of “the kind of relationship with their mother that every child yearns for”.
The 11-week trial earlier this year gripped Australia like no other – and it has now been put to bed as Justice Christopher Beale handed down the sentence at Victoria’s Supreme Court.
For the first time in history, the Supreme Court allowed TV cameras into the courtroom to broadcast the sentencing live.
In court, Judge Beale said he agreed Patterson should receive life imprisonment – but the “main dispute” was whether she should be afforded the possibility of parole.
He recounted the trial evidence before concluding that the murders involved “substantial premeditation”.
Describing the toll of the triple murders on the families, Justice Beale said: “Four generations of the extended Patterson and Wilkinson families have been traumatised by your crimes.”
He added: “Your failure to exhibit any remorse pours salt into all the victims’ wounds.”
Prosecutors had called for Patterson to be denied the chance of ever walking out, while her defence argued she should retain the possibility of parole.
Colin Mandy SC, defending, previously said the judge should consider the tough conditions Patterson will naturally suffer as such a notorious criminal.
Patterson has spent most of her days since her arrest in November 2023 in isolated in her cell – which Judge Beale said “doesn’t sound very humane”.
He took this – along with the added danger she faces due to her notoriety – into account when deciding on the details of the sentence.
The judge said the “Mushroom Murderer” has a “maximum security rating” and has an incredibly isolated life behind bars – spending 22 hours a day in her cell.
Patterson pleaded not guilty to all the charges and claimed the deaths were a tragic accident.
She now has until October 6 to lodge an appeal against her conviction or sentence or both.
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Fascination with the case was off the charts across Australia.
Journalists from around the world descended on the tiny town of Morwell – where the trial was held in one of Australia’s smallest courtrooms.
Patterson was tried there, rather than in Melbourne, at her own request.
Every day of the trial from April 29 to July 7, reporters jostled for the six media seats in the courtroom and hopeful spectators queued out of the door.
Described as “a ritual, habitual and pathological liar”, Patterson’s story unravelled in the dock and impossible contradictions tripped her up.
Ian told the court that Erin sensationally claimed to have been diagnosed with cancer during the lunch – something she later denied.
She also initially told police she did not own a food dehydrator and had not gone foraging for mushrooms – later claiming in court these lies had been a “knee-jerk” reaction.
Incredibly, Ian said last month that he had forgiven Patterson for trying to kill him.
He said in a victim statement her felt “half alive” without Heather by his side – but insisted he harbours no “ill will” against Patterson.
Ian added: “Now I am no longer Erin Patterson’s victim, and she has become the victim of my kindness.”
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