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Jailed until the age of 82: Erin Patterson learns her fate By Erin Pearson Erin Patterson stood for the judge as the sentence was read out: life in prison, with a non-parole period of 33 years.
This makes her one of Victoria’s longest-serving female inmates. She will have just turned 82 before she is granted the opportunity for freedom.
With no reaction or emotion, Patterson was led from courtroom four at Victoria’s Supreme Court, tapping twice on the media bench as she walked past.
Erin Patterson’s mushroom lunch guests: Don Patterson, Gail Patterson, Heather Wilkinson and Ian Wilkinson.
During Justice Christopher Beale’s sentencing remarks, Patterson largely kept her eyes closed, except for one moment.
When the judge spoke of the intense media scrutiny Patterson has been made to endure – and how that will make her jail time harder – she opened her eyes to glare at the reporters taking notes in the Supreme Court.
It was a pointed look, after more than 10 minutes of listening to Justice Beale with her eyes closed.
With time already served since her arrest in November 2023, she will be eligible for release in October 2056.
Latest posts 4.23pm
Back in her jail cell, Erin Patterson contemplates 33 years behind bars After a lengthy trial that captured international headlines, mushroom cook Erin Patterson has learned her fate: life in prison, with a non-parole period of 33 years, for murdering three lunch guests and attempting to kill another.
She will be 82 years old before she can apply for parole, making her one of Victoria’s longest-serving female inmates.
Erin Patterson leaves court. Credit: AFP
In a historic first, a television camera was stationed inside the courtroom this morning as Justice Christopher Beale sentenced Patterson for the murders of Heather Wilkinson and Don and Gail Patterson, and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.
Justice Beale said Patterson had intended to poison them when she served them beef Wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms for lunch in July 2023.
He sentenced Patterson to life in prison for each of the murders of Gail Patterson, Don Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and 25 years for the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.
With time already served since her arrest in November 2023, Patterson will be eligible for release in October 2056.
4.14pm
Opinion: These two big questions remain unanswered By Ahona Guha The trial that has consumed the public since 2023 came to a kind of close today, with Erin Patterson sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years.
And yet, two of the biggest questions remain unanswered: what was Patterson’s state of mind at the time of offending, and what motivated her to feed four of
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