(C) BoingBoing
This story was originally published by BoingBoing and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Life in jail for mushroom murderer who poisoned family with Beef Wellington [1]
['Rob Beschizza']
Date: 2025-09-15
Erin Patterson, who meticulously cooked a Beef Wellington with death cap mushrooms then fed it to family members, killing three, is off to jail for at least 33 years. The Australian woman, 50, was convicted in July on three counts on murder and one of attempted murder after jurors heard evidence of her planning the meal, her obesssion with poisoning, and the testimony of the luncheon's sole survivor, Ian Wilkinson.
Erin had falsely claimed to have been diagnosed with cancer after luring her victims to the meal. They prayed together. Then the "relentless diarrhea" began.
The jail term is one of the longest received by a woman in Australia. She will not be eligible for parole until she is 83 years old.
A Supreme Court judge said Patterson's crimes were the "worst category" for offending and involved an "elaborate cover-up". Patterson killed her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, after serving them a toxic beef Wellington at her home in Victoria in 2023. … Patterson's estranged husband Simon Patterson was meant to attend the lunch too but cancelled at the last minute, in part due to his belief that his wife had been trying to poison him for years.
Her motive remains a mystery; those she killed were reportedly on good terms with her. Such was the intensity of public interest in the case that the court allowed media in to broadcast proceedings live.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://boingboing.net/2025/09/15/life-in-jail-for-mushroom-murderer-who-poisoned-family-with-beef-wellington.html
Published and (C) by BoingBoing
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/boingboing/
