Erin Patterson: Mushroom murderer back in court to appeal conviction as prosecutors also push for no parole

The woman at the centre of the Leongatha mushroom murders is set to appeal her convictions as prosecutors separately push for her to be given no chance at parole.

Erin Patterson, 51, was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 33 years in September last year after a jury found her guilty of murdering her husband’s parents and aunt, and the attempted murder of his uncle, with a poisoned lunch.

The convicted triple-murderer invited her estranged husband Simon Patterson and in-laws; Don and Gail Patterson and Ian and Heather Wilkinson, to lunch at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.

Simon pulled out days prior, fearing she had tried to kill him with poisoned meals on four previous occasions, with Patterson serving up a beef wellington dish containing death cap mushrooms to her four guests.

Each fell critically ill following the meal — Don, Gail and Heather died in early August while Ian slowly recovered after spending more than a month in hospital.

At trial, Patterson claimed the incident was a deadly accident and that she loved her in-laws, while prosecutors argued the only reasonable explanation was that the mother-of-two deliberately sought out and served the fungi intending to kill or seriously injure her guests.

Patterson maintains her innocence, with a two day appeal expected to begin in the Court of Appeal on Wednesday morning hoping to overturn the findings of guilt.It’s understood she will not appear in person, choosing to observe the proceedings by videolink from her prison.

The hearing will also be livestreamed for the public online.

In appeal documents released by the court, Patterson raised six “substantial” miscarriages of justice during her trial and one “fundamental irregularity” with the jury.

When the jury were sequestered to decide the verdicts, jurors were unknowingly housed into the same hotel as the lead police investigator and members of the prosecution team, with Patterson arguing this “fatally undermined the integrity of the verdicts”.

She took issue with several pieces of evidence she believes should not have been allowed in the trial, including records of her phone’s cell tower connections, death cap sightings posted to citizen science website iNaturalist, photos and videos of mushrooms on a SD card and evidence from members of a Facebook true crime group she was involved with.

Patterson also argued conduct by prosecutors had impacted her trial, including “unfair and oppressive” cross-examination during her time in the witness box and Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC’s closing address.

Running parallel to Patterson’s appeal, the Director of Public Prosecutions will also argue her sentence was “manifestly inadequate” and she should not have been given an chance to be released on parole in November 2056.

They argue the sentencing judge erred when he found there was a “substantial chance” Patterson would remain in solitary confinement and that this had “infected” his decision to fix a non-parole period.

Handing down the sentence, Justice Christopher Beale found Patterson’s crimes fell in to the worst category of murder.

“You showed no pity for your victims,” he said.

“Some murders occur for no reason, the motive for some murders may only be known to the offenders,” he said.

“Only you know why you committed the murders, I will not be speculating about that matter.”