Erin Patterson, 50, has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years after murdering three of her estranged husband's relatives and attempting to murder a fourth by deliberately serving them lunch laced with poisonous death cap mushrooms. After a highly publicised trial that found her guilty on 7 July, the sentence was delivered by Justice Christopher Beale during a live broadcast in the Victorian supreme court on Monday 8 September.
The 11-week trial saw devastating evidence presented to the jury, and left many people asking: what's the true story behind Erin Patterson and why did she do it?
Here's everything we know…
Who is Erin Patterson?
Erin Patterson, 50, is an Australian woman who, in July 2023, hosted a lunch at her home in Leongatha, Victoria.
© AFP via Getty ImagesJoined by her estranged husband's parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband, Ian Wilkinson, Erin served up a beef Wellington containing deadly death cap mushrooms, before falsely telling her guests she had cancer.
While Ian survived, the other three tragically died.
© Getty ImagesDuring her trial, Erin maintained the incident was an accident and claimed to have a secret struggle with bulimia, which she used to account for her lack of symptoms.
Why did Erin Patterson do it?
While the jury ultimately found the defendant guilty of three murders and one attempted murder, they did so without the prosecution presenting a specific motive, according to the BBC.
© Getty ImagesThis was because they believed "the jury may still be wondering what drove Erin to kill long after the trial wrapped."
Throughout the court proceedings, details emerged that shed some light on the relationships within the family.
© MARTIN KEEP/AFP via Getty ImagesThe true story behind the Erin Patterson case
Erin's estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was absent from the fatal lunch, having pulled out the day before because he felt "uncomfortable" amid tension with his former wife.
Simon told the court that he and Erin had initially remained amicable after their split in 2015, but in 2022, they started having disagreements over "finances, child support, schools and properties".
While Simon testified that there was no "inkling of ill will towards his family," Erin told the court herself that she felt increasingly isolated from the Patterson family.
© MARTIN KEEP/AFP via Getty ImagesThe prosecution also presented evidence suggesting frustration on Erin's part, including expletive Facebook messages in which she allegedly called Simon a "deadbeat" and his parents, Don and Gail, "a lost cause".
The absence of a clear motive was paramount to Erin's defence, which claimed to be a foraging accident gone terribly wrong, and backed up her plea of not guilty.
She even told police in her interrogation: "My parents are both gone. My grandparents are all gone. They're the only family that I've got… I love them a lot."
What happened in the Erin Patterson trial?
It was ultimately the lies in Erin's story and her disposal of evidence that led to holes in her defence.
© Getty ImagesAfter about a week of deliberation, the jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict on all three counts of murder and the one count of attempted murder on Monday 7 July.
She faces a potential life sentence and will return to court for a sentencing hearing at a later date.
