Erin Patterson appeals guilty verdicts over deadly mushroom lunch that killed three

Triple murderer Erin Patterson has filed an appeal against her conviction for killing three relatives with poisoned beef wellingtons, but will not appeal against her sentence.

Lawyers for Patterson, 51, signalled they would be appealing last month, but the deadline for her to lodge the challenge to the court of appeal passed late yesterday.

Guardian Australia has confirmed that the appeal was lodged before deadline by Patterson’s legal team, which now includes barristers Richard Edney and Veronika Drago.

On 8 September, Patterson was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years for the murders of her estranged husband’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt, Heather Wilkinson, and for attempting to murder Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, who survived the lunch after spending weeks in hospital.

Patterson was convicted in July after an 11-week trial in Morwell in regional Victoria.

She maintained her innocence during the trial, claiming that she had not meant to serve beef wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms to her lunch guests in July 2023.

In sentencing, Justice Christopher Beale said the aggravating circumstances of Patterson’s offending were the substantial premeditation; her pitiless behaviour after the lunch; the suffering of her victims and those who knew them; and her elaborate cover-up.

“Finally, and most importantly, your offending involved an enormous betrayal of trust,” Beale said at the 8 September hearing.

“Your victims were all your relatives by marriage. More than that, they had all been good to you and your children over many years, as you acknowledged in your testimony.

“Not only did you cut short three lives and cause lasting damage to Ian Wilkinson’s health, thereby devastating the extended Patterson and Wilkinson families, you inflicted untold suffering on your own children whom you robbed of their beloved grandparents.”

Edney confirmed Patterson would appeal during a short hearing on 1 October. She has lodged her appeal under new guidelines being trialled by the supreme court that double the 28-day maximum period in which an appeal application can be filed.