An Australian judge has sentenced a woman convicted of killing three of her estranged husband’s relatives with toxic mushrooms to life in prison, with a non-parole period of 33 years.
The sentence on Monday came after a jury found Erin Patterson guilty of killing her mother-in-law and father-in-law, Gail and Donald Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, by serving them a lunch of Beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms.
The 50-year-old was also convicted of attempting to murder Wilkinson’s husband, Ian, who spent weeks in a hospital.
Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon, was invited but did not attend the July 2023 lunch served at her home in Leongatha, some 135km (84 miles) southeast of Melbourne.
Justice Christopher Beale said that 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 at the hearing in Melbourne.
“Not only did you cut short three lives and cause lasting damage to Ian Wilkinson’s health, thereby devastating the extended Patterson and Wilkinson families, you inflicted untold suffering on your own children, whom you robbed of their beloved grandparents,” he added.
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