Mushroom cook sentencing: A glare, two taps and a scowl – the moment Erin Patterson lost her composure

Erin Patterson stood for the judge as the sentence was read out: life in prison, with a non-parole period of 33 years.

This makes her one of Victoria’s longest-serving female inmates. She will have just turned 82 before she is granted the opportunity for freedom.

With no reaction or emotion, Patterson was led from courtroom four at Victoria’s Supreme Court, tapping twice on the media bench as she walked past.

During Justice Christopher Beale’s sentencing remarks, Patterson largely kept her eyes closed, except for one moment.

When the judge spoke of the intense media scrutiny Patterson has been made to endure – and how that will make her jail time harder – she opened her eyes to glare at the reporters taking notes in the Supreme Court.

It was a pointed look, after more than 10 minutes of listening to Justice Beale with her eyes closed.

With time already served since her arrest in November 2023, she will be eligible for release in October 2056.

After a lengthy trial that captured international headlines, mushroom cook Erin Patterson has learned her fate: life in prison, with a non-parole period of 33 years, for murdering three lunch guests and attempting to kill another.

She will be 82 years old before she can apply for parole, making her one of Victoria’s longest-serving female inmates.

In a historic first, a television camera was stationed inside the courtroom this morning as Justice Christopher Beale sentenced Patterson for the murders of Heather Wilkinson and Don and Gail Patterson, and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.

Justice Beale said Patterson had intended to poison them when she served them beef Wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms for lunch in July 2023.

He sentenced Patterson to life in prison for each of the murders of Gail Patterson, Don Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and 25 years for the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.

With time already served since her arrest in November 2023, Patterson will be eligible for release in October 2056.

The trial that has consumed the public since 2023 came to a kind of close today, with Erin Patterson sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years.

And yet, two of the biggest questions remain unanswered: what was Patterson’s state of mind at the time of offending, and what motivated her to feed four of her relatives a meal laced with death cap mushrooms?

The prosecution provided no motive for the murders and were not required to. They simply needed to prove that her acts were intentional and designed to cause death.

The defence’s case was similarly unilluminating, likely built around her instructions that the mushrooms were mistakenly placed in the meal.

In the absence of any clear motive or information about her mental state and functioning, and even before sentencing, many armchair detectives and faux psychologists have been quick to theorise about the diagnosis that may have driven Patterson’s actions.

Read more here.

Convicted triple murderer Erin Patterson showed no pity for her victims, no remorse over their deaths and continued to pour salt in the wounds of their families with her lies.

One of Victoria’s most notorious killers sat with her eyes closed as Justice Christopher Beale delivered the damning assessment of her crimes which he said remain without explanation more than two years after the deaths of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson.

Patterson opened her eyes only a handful of times as she was sentenced to life in jail with a non-parole period of 33 years.

This included when the judge mentioned surviving lunch guest Ian Wilkinson’s offer of forgiveness, and a scowl towards the media when Justice Beale said her case was so infamous she was likely to remain in restricted conditions in custody.

“I have no hesitation in finding your offending falls into the worst category. The gravity of your offending warrants the maximum penalties for your crimes,” Justice Beale said.

Read more here.

Three murders, one attempted murder, an 11-week trial and a 33-year sentence were summed up today in just 45 minutes.

Justice Christopher Beale was direct in his assessment of Erin Patterson’s lack of remorse or pity for her victims, saying she formed an intention to murder them 13 days before she served a beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms for lunch in July 2023.

Patterson, 50, was sentenced to the maximum penalty of life in prison for each of the murders of her parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson. She also received the maximum sentence – 25 years in jail – for the attempted murder of Korumburra pastor Ian Wilkinson.

Here are the five key moments from Beale’s sentencing remarks today in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Erin Patterson’s deadly mushroom lunch has attracted international attention. Here’s how media outlets around the world reported today’s sentencing.

Associated Press: The case has attracted enormous public interest in Victoria, nationally and internationally. Because of this, the Victorian Supreme Court allowed for the first time a sentencing hearing to be broadcast live on television. [Patterson] has 28 days from her sentencing (October 6) to appeal against her convictions and the severity of her sentence.

New York Times: The contrast between the banality of the lunch and its lethal outcome seemed to generate more public fascination than any other Australian murder trial in recent memory. Multiple podcasts about the case have been produced, and news outlets described every development in detail. Helen Garner, one of Australia’s most celebrated writers, is co-authoring a book about the case.

The Telegraph, London: Patterson had always maintained her innocence and insisted that she unknowingly used toxic fungi to prepare the family meal. The motive for the “senseless” crimes was never established, Justice Beale told the court on Monday.

CNN: In Australia, jury members must remain anonymous even after the trial and are bound by law not to divulge discussions held in the jury room. So, it will never be clear what convinced all 12 jury members to reach their unanimous verdict.