Mushroom killer to be jailed for life after appeals court finds sentence too light

Anita Lester/Reuters

An attempt by murderer Erin Patterson, who killed three people with a meal of toxic mushrooms, to overturn her conviction has failed, with an appeals court finding that her original sentence was too light.

Patterson, now 52, was found guilty last July after a jury trial that attracted international attention due to the unusual method of murder – death cap mushrooms hidden inside portions of beef wellington at a family lunch in July 2023.

The Australian mother was given three life sentences for the murder of three people, including her estranged husband’s parents, as well as 25 years for the attempted murder of a fourth guest, the local pastor, who recovered after weeks in hospital.

She was sentenced to a non-parole period of 33 years, meaning she would have been in her 80s when freed.

In August, Patterson’s lawyers presented seven grounds of appeal – that if granted may have led to a retrial – but three appeals court judges instead found Friday that her crimes were so “extraordinarily cold and calculated” that she deserved to be in prison for life.

“In all the circumstances, after anxious consideration, we have concluded that the case involved such shocking criminality that it is inappropriate to fix a non-parole period,” said Justice Stephen McLeish.

This is a developing story. More to come.

Anita Lester/路透社

因食用有毒蘑菇致三人死亡而被判谋杀罪的艾琳·帕特森，试图推翻其定罪，但上诉法院认为其原判刑罚过轻，上诉失败。

现年 52 岁的帕特森于去年 7 月被判有罪。此前，陪审团审判因其不同寻常的谋杀手法而引起了国际关注——2023 年 7 月，他在一次家庭午餐中将毒鹅膏菌藏在惠灵顿牛排中。

这位澳大利亚母亲因谋杀三人（包括她分居丈夫的父母）而被判处三个终身监禁，并因企图谋杀第四位客人（当地牧师）而被判处 25 年监禁。这位牧师在医院住了几周后康复。

她被判处 33 年不得假释，这意味着她获释时将年过八旬。

8 月，帕特森的律师提出了七项上诉理由——如果这些理由获得批准，可能会导致重审——但​​三名上诉法院法官周五裁定，她的罪行“极其冷酷无情，蓄意而为”，因此她应该被判处终身监禁。

“综合所有情况，经过慎重考虑，我们认为此案涉及的犯罪性质极其严重，因此不宜设定不得假释期，”斯蒂芬·麦克利什法官说道。

这是一则正在更新的新闻，敬请期待。