Erin Patterson loses mushroom murders appeal and is re-sentenced to life without parole by Victoria's Court of Appeal
Victoria's Court of Appeal upheld Erin Patterson's three murder convictions and removed her 33-year minimum term, so she can never apply for parole.
At a glance
- Victoria's Court of Appeal dismissed Erin Patterson's appeal against her convictions for three murders and one attempted murder on Friday, October 30, 2026.
- The three judges accepted the prosecution's appeal that her life sentence with a 33-year non-parole period was manifestly inadequate, and re-sentenced her to life with no parole.
- Justice Stephen McLeish said the crimes were so serious that fixing any non-parole period was inappropriate, calling the offending 'extraordinarily cold and calculated'.
- The court rejected her main argument that jurors were compromised by staying in the same accommodation as a police witness.
- Her only remaining option is to ask the High Court of Australia for special leave to appeal, a very high bar.
Erin Patterson, the Australian woman convicted of killing three relatives with a beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms, lost her appeal on Friday, October 30, 2026. The court also took away any chance that she will one day be released. Victoria's Court of Appeal upheld all four of her convictions and accepted a prosecution argument that her original sentence was too light, re-sentencing her to life in prison without parole.
Patterson watched the decision by video link from prison as Justices Stephen McLeish, Lesley Taylor and Peter Kidd handed it down in Melbourne on Friday morning.
From 33 years to no release date
When she was sentenced in September 2025, the trial judge gave Patterson life imprisonment but set a minimum of 33 years before she could apply for parole. That would have made her eligible in her 80s. The Director of Public Prosecutions appealed, arguing the minimum was manifestly inadequate for a triple murder.
The appeal judges agreed. Reading the summary, Justice McLeish said the court had concluded that the case involved criminality so shocking that it was inappropriate to fix any non-parole period at all. The judges described the offending as "extraordinarily cold and calculated". They set aside the 33-year term, and Patterson now has no release date.
Why her appeal against the convictions failed
Patterson's lawyers, led by barrister Richard Edney, had filed seven grounds of appeal. The court refused leave on five of them and heard full argument on the remaining two. Both were dismissed.
The main ground was about the jury. During its deliberations, the jury was housed in the same accommodation as a police witness, prosecutors and police. The defence said this could have compromised the verdicts. The judges disagreed and found no basis to think the jurors had been influenced.
The defence had also argued that the trial judge wrongly kept out photos and videos from an SD card that it said supported Patterson's account. That complaint did not succeed either.
The case in dates
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 29 July 2023 | Patterson serves beef Wellington to four guests at her home in Leongatha, eastern Victoria |
| Early August 2023 | Don Patterson, 70, Gail Patterson, 70, and Heather Wilkinson, 66, die of death cap poisoning; Ian Wilkinson survives after weeks in hospital |
| November 2023 | Patterson is charged with three murders and attempted murder |
| April–July 2025 | Ten-week trial in Morwell, one of the most closely followed in Australian history |
| 7 July 2025 | Jury finds her guilty on all four charges |
| 8 September 2025 | Sentenced to life with a 33-year non-parole period |
| 30 October 2026 | Court of Appeal dismisses her appeal and removes any chance of parole |
Don and Gail Patterson were the parents of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson. Heather Wilkinson was Gail's sister, and Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband, is a local Baptist pastor. He survived and told the trial how the lunch unfolded.
What options are left
Very few. Under Victorian law a convicted person normally gets one appeal, and Patterson has now used hers. Her last route is to apply to the High Court of Australia for special leave to appeal. The High Court accepts only a small share of criminal applications, usually when a case raises a point of law of wider importance, and it is not a re-run of the trial.
Life without parole is rare in Victoria and is kept for the worst cases. Among the few people serving it are some of the state's most notorious killers. Patterson now joins them.
Her lawyers have not yet said whether they will go to the High Court. Any application for special leave would normally have to be filed within weeks of Friday's ruling.
Questions people are asking
Did Erin Patterson win her appeal?
No. On October 30, 2026, Victoria's Court of Appeal dismissed her appeal against all convictions and, on a prosecution appeal, increased her sentence to life imprisonment without parole.
Can Erin Patterson appeal again?
Her only remaining avenue is to seek special leave to appeal from the High Court of Australia, which hears only a small share of such applications and is not a second full appeal.
