Australian court confirms life sentence for Erin Patterson

Erin Patterson will spend the rest of her life in prison without the chance of parole, an Australian court ruled on Friday. A three-judge panel at the Supreme Court of Victoria dismissed her appeal against the conviction for murdering three of her estranged husband's relatives. The decision finalizes a sentence that places her among the few women in the country serving life without release.

Patterson, who was 51 at the time of the offense, was convicted last year of serving beef wellington laced with death cap mushrooms to her guests. The meal killed Gail Patterson, her mother-in-law, and Donald Patterson, her father-in-law. Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, also died. Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband, survived the meal and was convicted of attempted murder.

The court described the crime as an elaborate series of deceptions. Patterson told the group she had been diagnosed with cancer to explain why her two children were not present at the lunch. She asked the guests for advice on how to break the news to the children. Justice Stephen McLeish, speaking for the panel, called the offending extraordinarily cold and calculated.

The justices concluded that the criminality was so shocking that fixing a non-parole period was inappropriate. This ruling overturns her original sentence, which included a 33-year non-parole period. That term was among the longest ever handed to a woman in Australia. Patterson has consistently denied wrongdoing, maintaining that the deaths were accidental.

Her legal team argued that certain evidence should have been excluded from the trial. They also claimed her cross-examination was unfair and that placing the jury in the same hotel as other parties compromised the result. The judges found these grounds insufficient to overturn the verdict.

Patterson remains the second woman in Australia imprisoned for life without the possibility of parole. The first was Katherine Knight, a meatworker sentenced in New South Wales in 2001. Knight murdered her partner John Price by stabbing him at least 37 times in the previous year.

Patterson can still apply to Australia's High Court to overturn her sentence and convictions. The High Court represents her final option for appeal.