Mushroom killer Erin Patterson emotionless as appeal dismissed

Mushroom killer Erin Patterson is likely to die behind bars after Victoria’s Court of Appeal not only quashed her bid to overturn her triple murder conviction, but also ordered the removal of her original sentence’s non-parole period.

Patterson, 51, appeared in court via video-link on Friday morning from Dame Phyllis Frost prison, where she has been incarcerated since she was convicted in 2025 for the murders of her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson.

She had invited the group to lunch where she served them beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms.

All four were hospitalised, but only Ian Wilkinson survived after a lengthy stay.

Patterson’s legal team argued that her conviction should be quashed on several grounds, including the sequestering of the jury in the same hotel as members of the prosecution and the case’s lead investigator.

They also claimed Patterson suffered an unduly intense and oppressive cross-examination in court, and that she should have been allowed to submit a photo of wild mushrooms from 2020 into evidence.

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Patterson did not show any emotion as Justice Stephen McLeish read out the court’s decision to dismiss her appeal entirely.

She was dressed in prison blues and had a book with her, though she passed the time while awaiting the judges’ arrival by gazing out of a window into a prison yard.

A simultaneous appeal from the prosecution to remove Patterson’s non-parole period of 33 years, initially imposed by trial judge Christopher Beale, was also considered by the court.

In this case, the court upheld the appeal, meaning Patterson can never apply for parole.

McLeish emphasised the degree of planning involved in the murders, as well as Patterson’s “elaborate series of deceptions”, and said her actions were characterised by “such shocking criminality” that a parole option was inappropriate.

Patterson will have until November 27 to lodge an appeal with the High Court, which would be her final hope of overturning her conviction.

Outside court, prosecutor Brendan Kissane acknowledged that “the application was successful” but did not speak further to media.

At her trial, Patterson maintained the poisonings were accidental, a result of her foraging for wild mushrooms.

The court heard she had invited her estranged husband Simon’s parents Don and Gail, and the Wilkinsons, to lunch, where she claimed to have been diagnosed with cancer and asked for advice on how to tell her children.

Simon, who had also been invited, chose not to attend.

At Patterson’s original sentencing, Beale spoke of the “enormous betrayal of trust” involved in the murders.

“Your victims were all your relatives by marriage. More than that, they had all been good to you and your children over many years, as you acknowledged in your testimony,” he said.

“Not only did you cut short three lives and cause lasting damage to Ian Wilkinson’s health, thereby devastating the extended Patterson and Wilkinson families, you inflicted untold suffering on your own children whom you robbed of their beloved grandparents.“

Beale ultimately concluded that Patterson’s offences were in the “very worst category” of murder.