Australia court upholds Erin Patterson murders, blocks parole
What's new: Appeals judges replaced her 33-year minimum term with life without parole after calling the poisonings shockingly calculated.
An Australian appeals court upheld Erin Patterson's convictions for killing three relatives with a mushroom-laced meal and ruled that she should never be released from prison. Patterson, 52, was convicted of murdering Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and of attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, after serving beef Wellington containing death cap mushrooms at her rural Victoria home in 2023. The Court of Appeal on Friday rejected her challenge to the verdicts and agreed with prosecutors that her original sentence was too lenient. Judges said the crimes were exceptionally cold and deliberate, overturning a 33-year non-parole period imposed last year.