Patterson has been convicted of willfully poisoning her lunch guests by offering a beef Wellington dish laced with death cap mushrooms at her home in Gippsland in July 2023.

Images published on Monday but taken in May show Erin Patterson arriving at court in the back of a prison van. Source: AFP / Martin Keep

Patterson’s former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, all died in hospital, days after the meal. Wilkinson’s husband Ian spent two months in hospital recovering, but survived. He gave evidence during the trial.

Patterson had pleaded not guilty and had always maintained the deaths were a tragic accident.

Defence barrister Colin Mandy leaves the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court in Morwell. Source: AAP / James Ross

The prosecution accused Erin Patterson of telling a series of lies to police, including that she did not forage for mushrooms in the meal and did not own a dehydrator.

While on the witness stand, she disclosed for the first time that she took pleasure in gathering wild mushrooms, admitting she began this hobby in 2020 amidst the pandemic.

Jury reaches guilty verdicts