Aussie woman who killed relatives with poison mushrooms jailed at least 33 years

An Australian woman convicted of murdering three elderly relatives of her estranged husband with a meal containing poisonous mushrooms was sentenced to a minimum of 33 years in prison on Sept 8, in one of the longest jail terms ever given to a woman in the country.

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MELBOURNE -

The presiding judge said Erin Patterson showed no pity for her in-laws after she served them individual portions of Beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms, in a case that has had a "devastating" impact on the relatives of the dead.

Patterson was found guilty in July of killing her mother-in-law, Ms Gail Patterson; father-in-law, Mr Donald Patterson; and Ms Gail Patterson's sister, Ms Heather Wilkinson, in a case that has been globally followed and dubbed the Leongatha mushroom murders.

A jury also found the 50-year-old guilty of the attempted murder of Mr Ian Wilkinson, Ms Heather Wilkinson's husband, who survived the 2023 meal at Patterson's home in Leongatha, a town of about 6,000 people, some 135km southeast of Melbourne.

At the Sept 8 sentencing hearing at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne, Justice Christopher Beale said the substantial planning of the murders and Patterson's lack of remorse meant her sentence should be lengthy.

"The devastating impact of your crimes is not limited to your direct victims. Your crimes have harmed a great many people," he said.