27 publishers · first seen Wed, 28 Oct 2026 18:11 UTC · updated Fri, 30 Oct 2026 21:02 UTC
On Friday, the Court of Appeal in Victoria ruled that Erin Patterson, convicted of poisoning her in-laws and aunt with a mushroom-laced meal, will serve life in prison without parole. Patterson, 52, was found guilty of murdering three people and attempting to murder a fourth. The court found her crimes to be 'extraordinarily cold and calculated'. Patterson had appealed her conviction, arguing that the jury's sequestration in the same hotel as prosecution and police was improper. However, the court found no evidence of improper contact. The prosecution had also appealed, arguing that the original 33-year non-parole period was inadequate. Patterson will now join Katherine Knight, the first Australian woman to receive a life sentence without parole, as the only two women in the country's history to receive such a sentence.
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