An Australian woman was yesterday convicted of murdering three elderly relatives of her estranged husband with a meal laced with poisonous mushrooms, and attempting to murder a fourth, in a case that gripped the country.
After a week of deliberation, the jury found Erin Patterson lured her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, to lunch at her home and poisoned them with individual servings of Beef Wellington that contained death cap mushrooms.
They also found the 50-year-old guilty of the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband, who survived the 2023 meal at Erin Patterson’s home in Leongatha, a town of about 6,000 people 135km southeast of Melbourne.
Patterson had pleaded not guilty to the four charges, saying the deaths were accidental.
The mother of two will be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum life sentence. She can appeal against the verdict.
Colin Mandy, Patterson’s defence lawyer and one of Melbourne’s top criminal barristers, made no comment as he left the court through a scrum of journalists.
Jessica O’Donnell, a spokesperson for Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon Patterson and his siblings, also declined to comment.
Dean Thomas, a detective with Victoria Police, thanked investigators for their work on the case.
“I think it’s very important that we remember that three people have died, and we’ve had a person that nearly died and was seriously injured,” he said in a brief statement outside the court.
The families of the victims had requested privacy and would not be making a statement, he added.
The 10-week trial in Morwell, a former coal mining town around two hours east of Melbourne, attracted global interest with local and international media descending on the courtroom.
The prosecution, led by barrister Nanette Rogers, told the court that Patterson had employed four major deceptions in order to murder her guests.
She first fabricated a cancer diagnosis to lure the guests to the lunch, then poisoned their meals while serving herself an untainted portion, Rogers told the court.
Patterson then lied that she was also sick from the food to avoid suspicion, before finally embarking on a cover-up when police began investigating the deaths, attempting to destroy evidence and lying to investigating officers, the prosecution said.
Patterson, who said during the trial she had inherited large sums of money from her mother and grandmother, retained a four-person legal team, led by Mandy.
She was the only witness in her defence, spending eight days on the stand, including five days of cross-examination.
Patterson told the court about a life-long struggle with her weight, an eating disorder and low self-esteem, frequently becoming emotional as she spoke about the impact of the lunch on the Patterson family and her two children.
She had lied about having cancer to her guests because she was embarrassed to admit she was actually having weight loss surgery, Patterson told the court.
She wanted her relatives’ advice on how to tell her children about the surgery, she said.
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