The sole survivor of a deadly mushroom lunch has thanked police for bringing the truth to light after Erin Patterson was given a life sentence for three murders.
Patterson, 50, kept her eyes closed for much of Monday’s hearing but stared straight ahead as Victorian Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale confirmed she would be eligible for parole after 33 years.
He found her crimes were horrendous.
But, the fact she would likely spend most of her sentence in solitary confinement warranted the granting of a non-parole period.
Speaking outside court after the sentence on 8 September, sole survivor Ian Wilkinson thanked police for bringing “to light the truth of what happened to three good people”.
He did not comment on her sentence but instead praised people from across Australia and the world who had offered their support during the ordeal.
Justice Beale accepted she deliberately served beef Wellingtons that were laced with death cap mushrooms to four lunch guests in July 2023.
Her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, all died after consuming the meal, while Heather’s husband Ian was left seriously ill but survived.
Patterson claimed it was all a terrible accident but the jury in July found her guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
Justice Beale accepted there was no proven motive for the crime, adding it was not his job to speculate about why she committed the murders.
However, he found Patterson did concoct an elaborate story to cover up her crimes, including lying about a dehydrator and where she sourced the mushrooms.
The judge also believed Mr Wilkinson, who described how the killer served the individual beef Wellingtons on grey plates to her lunch guests while her own meal was on a small orange-tan plate.
He found Patterson disposed of the plates after the lunch and then lied about them not existing during her evidence.
Justice Beale described her offending as the worst category of murder, noting the betrayal towards people she considered family.
“Their suffering was protracted,” the judge said.
“Your crimes have harmed a great many people.”
He said the severity of her crimes warranted the maximum sentence for both murder and attempted murder.
But, the judge accepted that given the extensive media coverage, Patterson’s notoriety would continue and she would likely remain in solitary confinement for years to come.
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