“Mushroom murderer” Erin Patterson has been sentenced to life in prison for triple murder with the world’s most toxic mushrooms.
According to CNN, the Australian woman who was convicted of killing three in-laws with a toxic mushroom lunch was sentenced to three life sentences with a non-parole period of 33 years on Monday, September 9, 2025.
The 55-year-old in July this year was found guilty of murdering her estranged husband, Simon Patterson’s father, mother (Don and Gail Patterson) and aunt (Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson) with a beef wellington meal in which she intentionally added death cap mushrooms.
She was also convicted of trying to kill her Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, at a family lunch in 2023, who survived the deadly lunch after a long hospitalisation.
Justice Christopher Beale at the sentencing hearing at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne 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, but you also inflicted untold suffering on your own children, whom you robbed of their beloved grandparents,” he added.
Prosecutors demanded the maximum punishment in Australia for Patterson, a life sentence without parole, but the judge allowed parole, considering the "harsh prison conditions" that she will face in prison due to the notoriety of her case.
Furthermore, Patterson now has 28 days to file her appeal against the sentence and the jury's guilty verdict.