Convicted mushroom killer Erin Patterson’s bid to appeal her guilty verdicts has been lodged and accepted by the Court of Appeal.
Erin Patterson, 51, hosted a lunch at her home in the Victorian town of Leongatha in July 2023, where she invited in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, and Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson for a meal of beef Wellington.
Erin Patterson arriving at court for her plea hearing in August.Credit: Jason Edwards
Heather Wilkinson and Gail Patterson died on August 4, 2023, from multiple organ failure and altered liver function, with a clinical diagnosis of amanita mushroom poisoning. Don Patterson died the following night, August 5, also from multiple organ failure.
Medical staff had determined the illnesses suffered by the three victims were unsurvivable, leading to their deaths from toxic mushroom poisoning. Ian Wilkinson survived after spending several weeks in an induced coma.
Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon Patterson – the son of Don and Gail Patterson – was also invited to the deadly lunch but cancelled the evening before.
In May 2024, Patterson pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one of attempted murder by poisoning them with death cap mushrooms. On July 7, she was found guilty of all four charges.
Patterson’s 28-day window to file an appeal against her conviction was due to end at midnight on October 6, but a new procedural rule allowed that timeframe to be doubled, extending that deadline until 11.59pm on Monday, November 3.
Last month, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) filed a separate appeal with the court, seeking a harsher sentence for Patterson and arguing that she should never be released from custody.
The sentencing appeal, filed by Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Diana Piekusis, KC, contends that the judge made an error in the sentence imposed on Patterson and that a harsher one should be made.
Don Patterson, Gail Patterson, Heather Wilkinson and Ian Wilkinson.
In the paperwork released to the media, Piekusis said the appeal was “in the public interest”.
Patterson is serving a minimum prison sentence of 33 years. Her sentence makes her one of Victoria’s longest-serving female inmates. She will have just turned 82 before she is eligible for parole in 2056.
Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale presided over the trial in Morwell, a town in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, which lasted 11 weeks.
With Erin Pearson
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