Criminal psychologist on the mushroom trial - why were we all so fascinated / what could have driven her to do it? Video / Herald NOW
A court order is preventing convicted triple-murderer Erin Patterson from selling the house where she served her deadly beef Wellington lunch.
The family home in Gibson St, Leongatha, in rural Victoria, is now subject to a Supreme Court restraining order in case her victims’ families make a compensation claim.
Victimscan apply for a compensation or restitution order under the Sentencing Act 1991.
The prosecution applied for a restraining order on Patterson’s A$1m ($1.09m) home on a one-hectare block on July 16 under confiscation legislation, the Herald Sun reported.
Erin Patterson's house in Leongatha, rural Victoria. Photo / Getty Images
Patterson’s parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson died from multiple organ failure linked to mushroom poisoning in the week after the lunch on July 29, 2023.
Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, was the only lunch guest to survive after he, too, became seriously ill.
Prosecutors argued that the only reasonable explanation for the deaths was that Patterson knowingly sought out death cap mushrooms and included them in the beef Wellington, intending to kill her or seriously injure her guests.
Her defence had argued that she accidentally included the deadly mushrooms and later acted poorly out of panic that she would be wrongly blamed.
The keenly watched 10-week trial ended on July 7 when, after seven days of deliberations, the jury unanimously found Patterson guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
