Erin Patterson: Australian court to hear mushroom murderer’s appeal against murder conviction

Katy Watson
Australia correspondent

Without doubt, this is the story I am most asked about in all my years of reporting.

Family, friends and colleagues are keen to know what it was like in court, how Erin Patterson seemed as she gave evidence – but most of all, why would she have done it?

Her motive was always in question – in fact, the prosecution argued right from the start that a motive wasn’t necessary to prove she was guilty of murder. But the mystery over her reasons for killing three relatives is partly why this trial drew so much attention.

An average family, having an average family lunch that ended in such tragedy.

Image source, Getty Images

Simon Atkinson
Australia producer

Erin Patterson was ever-present during her trial last year in Morwell – either quietly sitting in the dock or answering questions in the witness stand.

She was also there in person in Melbourne to hear those affected by her crimes talk about their devastating impact.

But Patterson, who turns 52 next month, is not in the room for this appeal. Instead she’s watching via video link from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, a maximum-security women’s prison in the western suburbs of the city.

Patterson did have the option to attend in person, but indicated when the appeal application was made last November that she wouldn’t, and has stuck by that.

Previous appearances have seen hordes of photographers and camera crews camp out in an attempt to snap a fleeting image of her – remarkable photos of Patterson in a prison van last year are perhaps her defining image.

The three people who died in hospital in the days after Patterson’s lunch were Patterson’s in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66.

Heather’s husband, local pastor Ian Wilkinson, recovered after weeks in an induced coma and still has ongoing health issues related to the poisoning.

Simon Patterson, Erin’s estranged husband with whom she has two children, had been invited to the lunch too, but pulled out the day before.

There are two appeals taking place.

Firstly, Patterson is trying to get her convictions overturned, claiming there were several reasons a “substantial miscarriage of justice” had occurred at her trial.

Her team’s complaints fit into three categories – problems with evidence, the actions of the prosecution, and an unusual snafu with the jury.

At the same time, prosecutors will also be appealing against her sentence. The judge said Patterson could apply for parole after 33 years, swayed by the “harsh prison conditions” she would likely face.

The prosecution says that’s “manifestly inadequate” and the triple murderer should never be freed.

Image source, Paul Tyquin

For two years, the mystery of exactly what happened at Erin Patterson’s dining table gripped the world.

Five people sat down to eat lunch at her home in rural Australia on 29 July 2023. Within a week, three would be dead, a fourth would be fighting for his life, and the fifth would be under investigation for intentionally poisoning her guests with wild mushrooms.

Erin Patterson, a self-described mushroom lover and amateur forager, had told the court it was all a tragic accident and she didn’t mean to kill her estranged husband’s relatives.

But over nine weeks, the jury heard evidence suggesting she had foraged death cap mushrooms sighted in nearby towns and lured her victims to the fatal meal under the false pretence that she had cancer – before trying to conceal her crimes by lying to police and disposing of evidence.

You can read all you need to know about the trial here.

Tiffanie Turnbull
BBC News, Sydney

Welcome to our live coverage of Erin Patterson’s appeal hearing in Melbourne.

The Australian triple murderer’s case has attracted unprecedented attention at every turn, and today is no different.

The 51-year-old has always maintained she accidentally included poisonous mushrooms in the beef Wellingtons she cooked for her estranged husband’s relatives in 2023, a meal which left three of them dead and another in a coma.

Patterson’s legal team is arguing there was a substantial miscarriage of justice at her trial and her convictions should be overturned – but we’ll also hear from the prosecution who say the sentence imposed by the judge was “manifestly inadequate”.

Stay with us as we bring you all the details from this two-day hearing.