Erin Patterson, the 51-year-old Australian woman serving a life sentence for killing three relatives with a toxic mushroom meal, has officially lodged an appeal against her convictions. Patterson was found guilty of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, both aged 70, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, after serving them a beef Wellington meal laced with deadly mushrooms at her home in Victoria in 2023.
The case shocked Australia, becoming one of the nation’s most closely watched criminal trials. Patterson had maintained throughout the 11-week hearing that the poisoning was a tragic accident and that she had not intentionally included toxic mushrooms in the meal. However, after seven days of deliberation, a jury found her guilty on all charges, including the attempted murder of Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, who survived after weeks in a coma but continues to suffer long-term health complications.
Patterson received one of the longest sentences ever imposed on a woman in Australia—life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 33 years. She will be in her 80s before she can apply for parole. Prosecutors, however, have also appealed, arguing that her sentence was “manifestly inadequate,” suggesting the punishment did not reflect the severity of the crime.
Her lawyers have now been granted permission to challenge the convictions, though the specific grounds of appeal have not yet been disclosed. The legal team benefited from a recent procedural rule allowing more time to file appeals without requiring justification for delays, extending their deadline beyond the original expiry date of October 6.
During the trial, the prosecution claimed Patterson had deliberately foraged and cooked death cap mushrooms, then invited her victims to the fatal lunch under the guise of suffering from cancer. Evidence also suggested she tried to cover up her actions by lying to police and destroying evidence. Her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, avoided the meal after suspecting she had previously tried to poison him, following multiple past incidents that left him gravely ill.
Currently held at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, a maximum-security women’s prison in Melbourne, Patterson spends most of her time in isolation due to her “major offender status” and the risks posed by her notoriety among inmates. Her appeal now sets the stage for another legal battle that will once again draw public attention to one of Australia’s most chilling family tragedies.
