Erin Patterson, who killed three members of her estranged husband’s family by poisoning them with a foraged mushroom and beef wellington, has been given three life sentences.
The 50-year-old mom, convicted of the triple murder of Gail Patterson, Don Patterson, and Heather Wilkinson, was sentenced Monday to a minimum non-parole period of 33 years despite a request from prosecutors for a life sentence with no parole period in concurrent sentences.
The case sparked global interest, quickly becoming a true crime obsession, but many questions remain, notably the mystery surrounding why she fed her family the world’s most toxic mushroom.
The murders in Leongatha, Victoria, Australia, saw Patterson feed her guests, which included a survivor, Ian Wilkinson, death cap mushrooms in 2023. She was also found guilty of his attempted murder and received a 25-year sentence, to be served concurrently with the murder sentences.
Patterson was told by a judge, “There is great anger at the callousness of your actions.”
Among the dead were Don and Gail Patterson, the parents of her husband Simon, who had pulled out the night before, while his aunt—Wilkinson’s wife—also died by poisoning that led to multiple organ failure.
Per CNN, so strong was the public interest in the case that it was broadcast live from Melbourne’s Supreme Court with news teams packing out the sidewalk outside the courthouse.
Delivering his verdict, Justice Christopher Beale said, “I am satisfied by July 16, 2023, when you unusually invited Simon, his parents, and aunt and uncle to a lunch without the children to discuss your non-existent medical issue, you did so with the intention of killing them all.”
He also noted she had caused “untold suffering” to her own children for killing their grandparents. “The devastating impact of your crimes is not limited to your direct victims; your crimes have harmed a great many people.”
The judge, in delivering a lower sentence than asked for by prosecutors, said the infamy of Patterson due to the high-profile nature of the case made her a potential target of fellow inmates, meaning she would likely need to spend significant periods of her sentence in solitary confinement. She is being held at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, eating through food delivered via a flap in the door, per the BBC.
The judge also noted her actions amounted to a breach of trust, pointing out that the people she had killed had been good to her.
