Erin Patterson loses appeal and faces life without parole in mushroom murder case

Erin Patterson, 52, has lost her bid to overturn her convictions over the mushroom murders and will be resentenced to life without parole, after Victoria's Court of Appeal rejected all seven grounds her lawyers argued and upheld an appeal by the state's director of public prosecutions.

The decision was delivered in the Banco court, the supreme court's ceremonial court, with Patterson watching by video link from the Gordon unit of the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, the state's women's prison. She wore a royal blue jumper and, on mute, raised her right thumb when court staff asked whether she could hear the proceedings.

Court finds offending 'cold and calculated'

Justice Stephen McLeish said Patterson's "offending was extraordinarily cold and calculated and stands to be denounced in the strongest terms". The court found her actions were "carefully planned and deliberate" and involved an "elaborate series of deceptions". McLeish said her murderous intent dated back to the invitations to lunch and persisted through the lunch at which the poison was administered, concluding that the case involved such calculated criminality that it was inappropriate to fix a non-parole period.

Patterson was sentenced last year to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years for the murders of Don and Gail Patterson, her estranged husband's parents, and Heather Wilkinson, his aunt, after she hosted them for lunch. She was also convicted of the attempted murder of Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, who survived the beef wellington laced with death cap mushrooms after weeks in hospital. Ian Wilkinson, the only surviving victim, was not in court for the appeal decision.

Prosecution argued original sentence too lenient

During hearings in August, director of public prosecutions Brendan Kissane KC argued the original sentence was manifestly inadequate. He said that even though Patterson would be in her 80s before she became eligible for parole, the sentence was still too lenient. Asked whether a longer non-parole period would essentially mean she would die in prison, he told the court: "It has its harsh aspect to it, of course, we accept that. But in our submission that is not a matter that is outweighed by the seriousness of the offending."

Patterson's legal team had argued seven grounds of appeal, including that allowing jurors to stay in the same hotel as police and the prosecution while they deliberated represented a "catastrophic" failure of the justice system. All seven were rejected.

In court, family members hugged and were emotional, and detectives involved in the case looked elated. Nobody commented outside court. Patterson showed no emotion on the video feed as the reasons for the failed appeal and the longer sentence were outlined.

She is one of only a handful of Victorian offenders sentenced to life without parole, and one of the only women in Australian history to receive that sentence. She must apply to the High Court for leave to appeal if she wishes to keep fighting her conviction or her new sentence.

Source: The Guardian World.