Woman used poisonous mushrooms to kill her parents, aunt and uncle of her ex-husband
The Australian woman accused of killing three lunch guests with the most poisonous mushrooms in the world was, this Monday, sentenced to three perpetual imprisonment, with a minimum period of 33 years before being able to require parole. The case, worthy of a royal criminal drama, captured the country’s attention and gave rise to various podcasts and documentaries.
Erin Patterson, 50, was considered guilty in July for the three-person murder-including his former husband’s aunt, aunt and uncle Simon Patterson-after serving a deliberately poisoned Wellington steak with mushrooms harvested in the immediate vicinity of his rural home in 2023.
Long prison sentences will be met simultaneously with a 25 -year sentence for attempted murder of the only survivor, Pastor Ian Wilkinson, whose wife 44 years ago, Heather, died at hospital days after lunch.
Simon, Don and Gail Patterson’s parents also died after suffering severe gastrointestinal poisoning, which evolved into multiple organ failure.
The session was broadcast live from the Supreme Court of Melbourne, which reflected the intense public interest in a case that placed Patterson, his family and the small town of Leongatha under the spotlight of international attention.
Journalist teams had room for the court entry, while Judge Christopher Beale sat on a chamber in room 4 to make the sentence.
Erin Patterson escorted to court before his sentence at the Supreme Court of Victoria on 8 September 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. (Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)
Judge Beale stated that Patterson’s crimes demanded a “substantial premeditation” and that it carried out a “cooking” by realizing that their initial lies would not be sustainable.
“I am convinced that on July 16, 2023, when he unusually invited Simon, his parents, and uncles for lunch without the children, under the pretext of discussing a nonexistent medical issue, with the intention of killing them,” said the judge.
The prosecution called for life imprisonment with no possibility of parole, but the judge said he took into account Patterson’s notoriety and the strong probability that he will spend many years in isolation for his own protection against other prisoners.
Still, he considered that Patterson’s crimes constituted a “huge betrayal of trust” and caused an “incalculable suffering” to their own children, who were without their grandparents.
“The devastating impact of their crimes is not limited to direct victims – their acts have caused suffering to many people,” said Beale.
Ian Wilkinson, the only guest who survived lunch with poisonous mushrooms with Australian killer Erin Patterson, speaks in front of the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne on September 8, 2025. (Martin Keep/AFP/Getty images)
Homicide with poisonous mushrooms
Patterson was separated from her husband, but kept contact with her parents, Don and Gail. He knew the uncles, Ian and Heather Wilkinson, for several years and saw them with some regularity in local church services.
He invited the five family members to have lunch at his home in Leongatha on July 31, 2023. He had no specific reason for the invitation – he said in court that he intended to improve the relationship with the in -laws.
However, Simon unveiled the day before, claiming not to feel comfortable, so only parents and uncles attended Saturday lunch.
After the trial, it was revealed that Simon believed that the woman would have tried to poison him several times in the previous two years, and that she suspected her intentions. Three accusations of attempted murder related to these episodes were filed before the main trial.
During the trial, lasting 10 weeks, the jury heard that Patterson had discovered the location of the mushrooms death cap through a citizen science site. The prosecutor said she bought a dehydrator to dry them and dismissed him in a waste recycling center while the guests were admitted to critical condition.
Patterson told police that he had bought mushrooms in a supermarket and Asian grocery store, leading the sanitary authorities to a fruitless investigation to track the origin of the fungi. He also lied about having been sick after lunch and falsely claimed to have given the meal remains – second was heard in court.
The accusation presented the defendant, the mother of two, as an unstable person, who repeatedly lied to the authorities and resisted the efforts of health professionals to ensure medical care to themselves and their children.
Although they did not have a clear motivation, prosecutors suggested that Patterson showed “two faces” to the world – one public, which appeared to maintain good relationships with the Patterson family, and another, revealed in messages to Facebook friends, loaded with frustration with family behaviors and beliefs.
In a message from December 2022, Patterson wrote:
“I’m sick of this. I don’t want to have anything to do with them.”
In another message said:
“This family … I swear to God!”
Simon Patterson leaves Latrobe Valley’s lower court court, where Erin Patterson appeared to his trial in Morwell on May 2, 2025. (Martin Keep/AFP/Getty Images)
World care centered on a small village
Patterson’s trial attracted worldwide attention to the small village of Morwell, in the state of Vitória, near the crime scene – the Patterson dining room in Leongatha.
Defense lawyers claimed that she would have added wild mushrooms to the accident meal and that she only realized the mistake when the guests were already in serious condition in the hospital.
After six days of deliberations, a jury composed of 12 elements declared Patterson guilty, despite his insistent statements of innocence during the extensive interrogation in court.
In Australia, jurors remain anonymous even after the trial is ended and are legally prohibited from revealing the content of the deliberations. Thus, one will never know what led all 12 jurors to reach a unanimous verdict.
On the way out of the court, this Monday, survivor Ian Wilkinson thanked the police for the “professional, efficient and effective” investigation.
The pastor of the Baptist Church of Korumburra also thanked the prosecutors, the health professionals and the members of the community who supported their family during the mourning. He also called for privacy and called for “all to be kind to each other.”
Wilkinson did not refer directly to the woman who killed three of her closest family members, but during a prior hearing on 25 August, she offered her forgiveness.
“I’m no longer a victim of Erin Patterson – she became a victim of my kindness,” he said.
Patterson has until midnight on October 6 to appeal the judgment or conviction.
