Published: 02:07 BST, 19 August 2026 | Updated: 06:38 BST, 19 August 2026
Evil mushroom killer Erin Patterson has begun her last-ditch effort to walk free from a Melbourne jail.
Supreme Court of Victoria Justice Christopher Beale sentenced Patterson to life in prison on September 8, but set a non-parole period of 33 years.
On Wednesday, the now 51-year-old appeared in the Supreme Court of Appeal from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre via video link, avoiding another uncomfortable face-to-face with her victims and their friends and families.
Justices Stephen McLeish, Lesley Taylor and Peter Kidd will determine Patterson's future after listening to all the evidence over the coming days.
Patterson, who appeared in court wearing an oversized jumper, messy long brown hair and glasses, was found guilty of the murders of Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson.
They died after consuming death cap mushrooms served in Beef Wellingtons during lunch at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.
Pastor Ian Wilkinson survived the lunch after being critically ill, with Patterson also convicted of his attempted murder.
Patterson had reportedly been expected to be represented by barrister Julian McMahon – a Companion of the Order of Australia and a Senior Counsel who counts the heroin smuggling ringleaders of the Bali Nine among his highest-profile defendants.
Erin Patterson could not face another trip to the Supreme Court of Melbourne where he fate was sealed last year
Instead, barrister Richard Edney appeared for Patterson, instantly launching into submissions calling for his client to be released from jail.
'I'll start with ground one, and your honours will see that that ground is expressed that a fundamental irregularity occurred while the jury were sequestered, that has fatally undermined the integrity of the verdicts and requires the quashing of the convictions and an order for a retrial so that justice can not only be done but be seen to be done,' he said.
Such is the public interest in the hearing, it needed to be moved from the actual appeal court to the larger Supreme Court of Victoria next door.
In opening his submissions, Mr Edney claimed the jury's placement in a hotel alongside journalists, police and prosecutors was unfair.
'We would describe the sequestration and what occurred during it as catastrophic, and in our submission, what has occurred here is that there has been a fundamental failure to comply with the dictum already referred to,' he said.
