Erin Patterson will die in prison after an Australian appeal court rejected her challenge against four convictions and ruled that her crimes were so calculated and shocking that she should never be eligible for parole.
The Court of Appeal in Victoria also upheld a prosecution appeal against her sentence, finding that the 33-year non-parole period imposed last year was manifestly inadequate. Patterson, 51, now has 28 days to decide whether to take her case to the High Court.
She was convicted of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, and of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, after serving a lunch containing death cap mushrooms at her home in Leongatha in July 2023.
Gail and Heather died from multiple organ failure on 4 August, 2023, while Don died the following night. Mr Wilkinson survived after spending several weeks in an induced coma.
Erin Patterson appeal dismissed
Justices Stephen McLeish, Leslie Taylor and Peter Kidd dismissed Patterson’s appeal on Friday, rejecting claims that irregularities during the trial had created a potential miscarriage of justice.
Her barrister, Richard Edney, had argued that jurors may have been improperly exposed to prosecutors, police and media while staying at the same hotel in Traralgon during their seven-day deliberation.
The court heard that jury keepers had reported no contact between jurors and anyone outside the jury pool. Justice McLeish said that finding was significant, as the challenge to the verdict was otherwise based on “conjecture, guesswork, or surmise”.
The judges also ruled that evidence linking Patterson’s mobile phone to two rural Gippsland locations where death cap mushrooms had been found was admissible. The evidence formed part of the prosecution’s circumstantial case, which also included her purchase of a food dehydrator on the same day as one of the possible visits.
Other grounds of appeal, including claims about the prosecution’s treatment of motive, the way Patterson was cross-examined over eight days and alleged errors in the closing address to the jury, were rejected.
The 11-week trial in Morwell heard evidence from more than 50 witnesses. Prosecutors said Patterson had invited the four victims to lunch, prepared and served the poisonous meal, and then concealed the source of the mushrooms while they became seriously ill.
Sentence increased to life without parole
In overturning the original non-parole period, the appeal court said Patterson’s intention to kill all four victims had lasted for nearly three weeks, from the invitations to lunch through to the deaths.
Justice McLeish said her conduct included false claims about cancer to explain the absence of children, denials that she had foraged the mushrooms, repeated false explanations about their source and the destruction of evidence.
“This offending was extraordinarily cold and calculated, and stands to be denounced in the strongest terms,” he said.
He added: “We have concluded that the case involved such shocking criminality that it is inappropriate to fix a non-parole period.”
Patterson watched the judgment by videolink from prison, wearing a blue prison jumper and glasses. Her former brother-in-law Nathan Patterson was the only member of her family in court, while Mr Wilkinson and Patterson’s estranged former husband, Simon Patterson, were absent.
