Topics: News, World News, Erin Patterson, Australia, Crime, True crime
Erin Patterson was sentenced for attempting to murder four people with a poisoned lunch in 2023.
Patterson, an Australian woman, was accused of murdering her estranged husband's parents and auntie with 'poisoned mushrooms'.
She had told the guests that she had called them round for lunch to reveal that she had been diagnosed with cancer, however authorities later discovered there was no such diagnosis.
On July 29 2023, Patterson poisoned Don and Gail Patterson, both aged 70, alongside Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, and Heather’s husband Reverend Ian Wilkinson.
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Heather and Gale both passed away on August 4, while Don died a day later. Ian was luckily able to survive, but he spent weeks in hospital in a critical condition.
Prosecutors have claimed that Patterson served the dishes on a different plate to her own, and despite claiming she fell ill afterwards, she never consumed the mushrooms.
Patterson was found guilty and on September 8, 2025, she was handed down her sentence.
Justice Christopher Beale spoke at the hearing for Patterson and stated that her planning of the murders and lack of remorse meant that her sentence should be lengthy.
He said: “The devastating impact of your crimes is not limited to your direct victims. Your crimes have harmed a great many people.
“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.”
She was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 33 years.
The only survivor of the meal, Ian, has also spoken out following the sentencing of Patterson.
In his victim impact statement, he said that suffering through eating the poisoned food meant he needed to have a liver transplant and was left feeling ‘half alive’.
After the court sentencing, he thanked ‘the many people from across Australia and around the world who had supported and encouraged’ him and the family.
He added: “Our lives and the life of our community depends on the kindness of others. I'd like to encourage everybody to be kind to each other.”
Patterson, who still maintains her innocence, says that she poisoned the victims by accident. Throughout the trial, her defense barrister Colin Mandy has claimed that the trio's deaths were a 'terrible accident'.
“The defence case is that what happened was a tragedy and a terrible accident,” Mandy previously told the court.
She had also invited the father of her two children to the meal, Simon Patterson, but he decided not to attend.
