Erin Patterson has lost her appeal to overturn her triple murder conviction.
Patterson was found guilty of murdering three people by lacing deathcap mushrooms into a beef Wellington lunch following an 11-week trial in September 2025, with a life sentence with a 33-year non-parole period handed down to her.
Patterson, who has always maintained her innocence, appealed the sentence on seven grounds; however, Victoria’s Court of Appeal has rejected this bid.
In an unusual situation, prosecutors appealed Patterson’s sentence at the same time as the defence, arguing for a harsher sentence with no parole, with the court ruling in their favour.
Patterson did not attend the court in person and watched the proceedings via video livestream from the Dame Phyllis Frost women’s prison.
Patterson appealed on the grounds that the jury was potentially contaminated by being unknowingly housed at the same hotel as a key police witness. However, this was unsuccessful, with the court ruling that there was no possibility that a jury wouldn’t have made the correct decision.
The appeal also argued that the trial judge made errors, that Patterson was subjected to oppressive five-day cross-examination, and that certain evidence should have been excluded.
A leave to appeal was granted on only two grounds, with the other five dismissed outright, but the appeal was unsuccessful.
Regarding the prosecution’s appeal for a harsher sentence, Justice McLeish said the non-parole period will be set aside.
The Crown argued that the possibility of parole in 2056, when Patterson would be 82 years old, is “manifestly inadequate” given the seriousness of her crimes. The Office of Public Prosecutions called for a life sentence with no parole.
Justice McLeish ruled in the prosecution’s favour, describing Patterson’s crimes as “cold, calculated and denounced in the strongest terms” and ruling that it would be “inappropriate to fix a non-parole period”.
Justice McLeish said Patterson’s conduct was described by “an elaborate series of deceptions”, with the planning of the lunch described as a “cruel breach of trust” of her relatives.
Patterson will no longer be eligible for parole in 2056 and will spend the rest of her life behind bars. Her only option would be to appeal this decision to the High Court of Australia; however, legal experts warn there would be a high legal bar for Patterson to clear to achieve this.
Patterson will serve life in prison after being found guilty of murdering three people – her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson – with deathcap mushrooms laced into a beef Wellington.
Ian Wilkinson, 71, was the sole survivor of the lunch at Patterson’s Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.
During her sentencing in September 2025, Justice Christopher Beale said it was clear that Patterson was guilty of the worst kind of offending.
She is incarcerated at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, a maximum-security women’s prison in Melbourne, Victoria.
