Mushroom killer Erin Patterson emotionless as appeal dismissed

Erin Patterson, an Australian woman convicted of murdering three people with a poisoned lunch, has seen her convictions upheld and sentence toughened by the Court of Appeal in Victoria state. Patterson, 52, was found guilty of deliberately lacing beef Wellington meals with highly toxic death cap mushrooms, leading to the deaths of her husband's parents and his aunt.

The court found the killings to be "carefully planned and deliberate," with no grounds to retry the case. In a further decision, Patterson's original sentence was deemed too lenient, and she will now be ineligible for parole, effectively condemning her to a life in prison. Despite her lawyers arguing irregularities in the trial, the court found no grounds to overturn the verdict, deeming her initial jail sentence insufficient for the gravity of her crimes.

Brief written by urgent.news from Malay Mail's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.