Australian mushroom killer loses appeal, has sentence extended

Erin Patterson, the Australian woman convicted of murdering her husband's parents and aunt with a poisoned meal, has had her life sentence extended without the possibility of parole. The Court of Appeal in Victoria dismissed Patterson's appeal, finding her original sentence did not reflect the severity of her crimes. Patterson, 52, had maintained her convictions were a miscarriage of justice, but the court rejected her claims.

She also faces a conviction for attempting to murder her husband's uncle, a pastor, who survived after weeks in the hospital. The court deemed Patterson's offenses "cold and calculated," and her jail term "manifestly inadequate." Patterson, who did not attend the trial in person, remains in a maximum-security prison on Melbourne's outskirts.

Her lawyers argued there were significant irregularities in the trial, including an "oppressive" cross-examination. The motive behind the killings remains unclear.