M10news – An Australian mother who poisoned her estranged husband’s family with a beef wellington laced with deadly mushrooms has been sentenced to at least 33 years in prison.
Erin Patterson, 50, was found guilty of murdering her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, both aged 70, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, after inviting them to lunch at her home in Leongatha, Victoria, on 29 July 2023.
Heather’s husband, Reverend Ian Wilkinson, also attended the gathering and ate the same meal. He survived after receiving a liver transplant and spending months in hospital, but described himself as left “half alive.”
The court heard that Patterson served her guests a beef wellington prepared with Amanita phalloides, more commonly known as death cap mushrooms — one of the world’s most lethal fungi.
To explain why her own children were not present, Patterson fabricated a cancer diagnosis and told the victims she wanted to discuss how to break the news to her children after the meal.
Within hours, all four guests had fallen ill. Gail and Heather died on 4 August, followed by Don the next day. Reverend Wilkinson remained in critical care for seven weeks.
Prosecutors revealed that Patterson had also invited her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, but he declined. In his victim statement, Simon said his children now live with “the grim reality of knowing their mother murdered their grandparents.”
Simon Patterson also claimed he had previously fallen violently ill after meals cooked by his former wife, leading him to suspect three earlier poisoning attempts. After the couple’s separation in 2015, he refused to eat any food prepared by her.
During the trial, Reverend Wilkinson testified that the victims were served food on grey dinner plates, while Patterson ate from a separate, smaller tan-coloured dish.
Patterson, who continues to claim the deaths were accidental, insisted she did not intentionally poison her guests. Her legal team argued that she had no motive to kill her former in-laws.
However, the jury found her guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder after a nine-week trial in Morwell, Victoria. She was also accused of deliberately misleading investigators throughout the inquiry.
In sentencing, the judge said Patterson’s actions showed “a chilling calculation” and a deliberate attempt to avoid suspicion by serving herself a different meal.
The case drew intense national attention, with journalists, podcasters, and documentary makers descending on the quiet town of Morwell to cover the trial. The unusual circumstances — a family gathering turned fatal through a common home-cooked dish — gripped the Australian public.
The use of death cap mushrooms, which closely resemble edible varieties, was central to the case. Even a small amount of the toxin can cause liver failure and death, and experts testified that Patterson had to know of the risks.
Reverend Wilkinson told the court he still suffers ongoing health complications and struggles with the emotional toll of losing his wife and close relatives.
In his statement, he described the ordeal as “a nightmare that never ends,” adding that his survival came at a devastating cost.
Patterson will serve a minimum of 33 years before being eligible for parole. Her lawyers indicated she intends to appeal the conviction.
For the Patterson and Wilkinson families, the ruling brings some closure, but the pain of the tragedy lingers in a case that shocked an entire nation.
