Erin Patterson loses appeal against mushroom murder convictions

Three judges in Victoria's Court of Appeal threw out her appeal and ruled she should never be released, finding her sentence inadequate. It had carried a 33-year non-parole period.

This offending was extraordinarily cold and calculated, and stands to be denounced in the strongest terms.

— Justice Stephen McLeish

Patterson, 52, was convicted of murdering her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson with a beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms. She was also convicted of attempting to kill Heather's husband Ian, who survived.

What's next

She can apply to Australia's High Court, her last appeal option. She has always denied wrongdoing, saying the deaths were accidental.