An Australian appeals court ordered Friday that triple murderer Erin Patterson never be released from prison because of the the “shocking criminality” involved in poisoning four of her estranged husband’s family members with death cap mushrooms.
Three judges of the Victoria state Court of Appeal dismissed Patterson’s appeal of her convictions and upheld prosecutors’ challenge to the leniency of her 33-year non-parole sentence, meaning she will spend the rest of her life in prison.
Mushroom murderer Erin Patterson sentenced to life: ‘You showed no pity’
Before, she would have been 82 years old by the time she would have been eligible to be considered for release.
Justice Stephen McLeish said her crimes were “extraordinarily cold and calculated and stand to be denounced in the strongest terms,” according to the Associated Press.
“In all the circumstances after anxious consideration, we have concluded that the case involved such shocking criminality that it is inappropriate to fix a nonparole period,” McLeish added.
Patterson is the second woman in Australian history to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
She joins Katherine Knight, who was sentenced in New South Wales in 2001 for the murder of her partner John Price, after she stabbed him at least 37 times.
Patterson’s convictions relate to a family dinner she hosted at her rural home in 2023, where she served a beef Wellington laced with poisonous mushrooms.
Patterson, 50, was convicted in July of murdering Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson.
Her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was invited but did not attend the July 2023 lunch served to her parents-in-law and her aunt and uncle at her home.
She was also convicted of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, who survived.
Patterson says she added death cap mushrooms to the beef Wellington by accident.
She was sentenced last year to three life sentences for murder and 25 years for attempted murder.
The prosecution and defence agreed that a life sentence was an appropriate punishment, but defence lawyers had asked for Patterson to become eligible for parole after serving 30 years.
Prosecutors argued she should never be considered for parole because she did not deserve the court’s mercy.
Patterson was classified by the court as a “notorious” prisoner who needs to be kept away from other inmates for her own safety.
Wilkinson, the sole survivor, thanked police, prosecutors and health services after the sentencing.
“We’re thankful that when things go wrong, there are good people and services and systems available to help us recover,” he told reporters outside court.
“Our lives and the life of our community depends on the kindness of others. I’d like to encourage everybody to be kind to each other. Finally, I want to say thank you to the many people from across Australia and around the world who, through their prayers and messages of support, have encouraged us,” he added.
In August, Wilkinson told the court that he felt only “half alive” following the death of his wife and the loss of his two closest friends.
— with files from the Associated Press and Global News’ Katie Scott
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
