Erin Patterson, a 50-year-old Australian mother, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 33 years after poisoning her former parents-in-law and aunt by lacing a beef Wellington with death cap mushrooms.

Three of the four victims—her estranged in-laws—died in early August 2023, while the fourth, Reverend Ian Wilkinson, survived the poisoning only after a liver transplant and months of hospitalization.

The sentencing hearing, held in the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne, revealed that Justice Christopher Beale cited Patterson’s planning and lack of remorse as aggravating factors justifying a lengthy sentence.

It emerged that Patterson had falsely told her children she was terminally ill as a guise to exclude them from the victim’s gathering.

The case deeply shocked the local community, highlighting the devastating ripple effects of the crime, not least on Patterson’s own children and the wider families—this report comes via Sky News.