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Mushroom killer likely to die in jail after freedom bid rejected · The Front

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  Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian, I'm Clare Harvey with
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  Speaker 1: the front's afternoon headlines. Mushroom killer Erin Patterson will likely
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  Speaker 1: die in jail after the Victorian Court of Appeal rejected
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  Speaker 1: her bid for freedom and increased her sentence to life
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  Speaker 1: imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Patterson was convicted in
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  Speaker 1: 2025 of the murders of three elderly relatives, Don and
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  Speaker 1: Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of
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  Speaker 1: Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson. The 52-year-old invited the couples, whom
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  Speaker 1: she's related to by marriage, to lunch at her Leangatha
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  Speaker 1: home in mid-2023. She served beef wellington laced with deadly
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  Speaker 1: death cap mushrooms. Patterson, who has always denied wrongdoing, was
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  Speaker 1: sentenced by Victorian Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale to life
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  Speaker 1: in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years. The
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  Speaker 1: Crown appealed that sentence, arguing it was manifestly inadequate. On
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  Speaker 1: Friday morning, Justices Stephen McLeish, Leslie Taylor and Peter Kidd
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  Speaker 1: ruled the sentence imposed by Beale was unreasonable because it
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  Speaker 1: didn't reflect what they called the extraordinarily cold and calculated
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  Speaker 1: nature of Patterson's offending. Here are the actual words spoken
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  Speaker 1: in court by Justice Stephen McLeish.
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  Speaker 2: The offending was carefully planned and deliberate. It represented a
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  Speaker 2: cruel breach of trust to members of the applicant's extended family.
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  Speaker 2: On that basis, the appeal against sentence succeeds and the
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  Speaker 2: non-parole period fixed by the judge will be set aside.
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  Speaker 2: In re-sentencing, it is necessary that the sentence vindicates unequivocally
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  Speaker 2: the primary value that our society places on each individual
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  Speaker 2: human life.
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  Speaker 1: That means Erin Patterson will be in her 80s if
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  Speaker 1: and when she's released from prison. She separately appealed her
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  Speaker 1: conviction on the grounds that accommodation arrangements for the jury
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  Speaker 1: violated the legal principle that justice must not only be done,
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  Speaker 1: it must be seen to be done. During their week-long deliberations,
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  Speaker 1: the jury were staying in a hotel in the Victorian
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  Speaker 1: town of Traralgon, near where the case was being heard
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  Speaker 1: in Morwell. The detective in charge of the investigation, Interpaterson
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  Speaker 1: and prosecution staff were also staying at that hotel.
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  Speaker 2: The court has found that there was no objective basis
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  Speaker 2: for a fair-minded person to reasonably apprehend that the jury
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  Speaker 2: might not have discharged its function of rendering a verdict
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  Speaker 2: according to law. That ground is therefore unsuccessful.
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  Speaker 1: The second and third grounds of Patterson's appeal related to
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  Speaker 1: the admissibility of certain pieces of evidence. The remaining grounds
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  Speaker 1: argued a substantial miscarriage of justice had occurred because the
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  Speaker 1: Crown's cross-examination of Patterson was unfair... and because the prosecution
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  Speaker 1: changed its case to include a motive, which it initially
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  Speaker 1: said there was no evidence for.
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  Speaker 2: The court has rejected these grounds. In summary, the court
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  Speaker 2: is of the opinion that leave to appeal against conviction
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  Speaker 2: should be granted in respect of grounds one and two only,
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  Speaker 2: but that the appeal should be dismissed.
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  Speaker 1: Now Patterson has the option to apply for special leave
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  Speaker 1: to appeal in the High Court. She joined Friday's hearing
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  Speaker 1: via video link. One of the country's leading economists says
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  Speaker 1: Australia is facing a 50-50 risk of recession as inflation skyrockets.
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  Speaker 1: HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham warned another rate hike is
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  Speaker 1: likely when the Reserve Bank meets next week and it
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  Speaker 1: could cause economic growth to all but flatline. Homewares chain
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  Speaker 1: Fantastic Furniture closed its last Australian factory, slashing 100 jobs
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  Speaker 1: as manufacturing is sent offshore to China and Vietnam. Fantastic
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  Speaker 1: Furniture has about 80 stores across Australia. The company says
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  Speaker 1: it's pivoting to an import-supply model as onshore costs rise.
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  Speaker 1: Check out those stories live right now at theaustralian.com.au. And
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  Speaker 1: come back to the front first thing in the morning
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  Speaker 1: for our look at the latest literary frenzy, a steamy
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  Speaker 1: new book by Romantici author Sarah J Maas. That's right here,
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  Speaker 1: Saturday morning.