Erin Patterson has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years after murdering three people and attempting to murder a fourth with a lunch laced with death cap mushrooms. The sentence was handed down by Justice Christopher Beale in the Victorian supreme court on Monday.
A jury found Patterson, 50, guilty of murdering Don and Gail Patterson – the parents of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson – and Simon’s aunt, Heather Wilkinson. She was also found guilty of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson. The crimes took place in July 2023 after Patterson served the victims beef wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms.
In an emotional victim impact statement, Ian Wilkinson offered Patterson forgiveness but said he was “compelled to seek justice” for the three murder victims. Simon Patterson said his estranged wife’s crimes had robbed their two children of “the kind of relationship with their mother that every child yearns for”.
Justice Beale described Patterson’s crimes as “horrendous” and said the jury was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that she committed the murders and attempted murder. “Only you know why you committed them,” he said. Beale noted that Patterson had been held in solitary confinement for 15 months and would remain a “notorious prisoner” at serious risk from others.
Patterson has until 6 October to lodge an appeal. She had pleaded not guilty, claiming the deaths were a tragic accident.
