An Australian appeals court has ordered Erin Patterson never to be released from prison after agreeing with prosecutors that her 33-year, non-parole period for poisoning four of her estranged husband’s relatives with death cap mushrooms was inadequate.
The three judges of the Victoria state Court of Appeal also dismissed on Friday the 52-year-old’s challenge to her convictions that stemmed from a family meal she hosted at her rural home in Leongatha in July 2023.
Erin Patterson insisted she added death cap mushrooms to the meals accidentally.
The deaths of Patterson’s parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, within days of having lunch immediately attracted an extraordinary level of global media attention.
Mrs Wilkinson’s husband Ian Wilkinson survived the lunch after spending weeks in hospital.
Prosecutors argued at an appeal hearing in August that she should never become eligible for parole.
She was sentenced last year to three life sentences for murder and 25 years for attempted murder.
She can challenge the verdict the Australia’s High Court, her final appeal option.
