Secret evidence in the Erin Patterson murder trial was due to remain suppressed due to massive publicity risks, Victoria’s Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday keeping details under wraps unless a High Court challenge proceeds.
The disputed material was originally set for inclusion during Patterson’s 2025 trial, where a beef Wellington lunch served at her rural Victoria home in July 2023 left three people dead, the NZ Herald reported. Justice Christopher Beale ruled the evidence inadmissible midway through proceedings after hearing further legal argument, ensuring jurors never saw it.
Justice Beale suppressed the evidence following the guilty verdict, pending an appeal. He concluded that releasing the information would leave an indelible impression on the minds of potential jurors if a retrial ever occurred, according to judgments cited by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
During the previous month, a trio of judges from the Court of Appeal in Victoria rejected Patterson’s challenge to her convictions and revised her sentence to life behind bars with no possibility of parole.
Justices Stephen McLeish, Lesley Taylor, and Peter Kidd said that the evidence is nuanced and complex, but likely to attract very significant publicity with the potential to cause a real and substantial risk of prejudice to any future trial.
The 52-year-old was found guilty of murdering her estranged husband’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, alongside the attempted murder of Wilkinson’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, who survived the meal. Patterson has maintained she accidentally added death cap mushrooms and lacked any intent to kill or cause serious injury.
Media outlets, including the ABC, sought to have the suppression lifted after the Court of Appeal dismissed her conviction challenge last month. Media barrister Marcus Hoyne agreed that published evidence would remain in the forefront of the public’s mind until a hypothetical future retrial.
However, Hoyne argued that any such trial would face an extensive delay and a judge could properly instruct a jury about the evidence, according to the ABC report. The Court of Appeal ultimately decided to keep the suppression order in place.
The restriction faces a specific expiration date under the current ruling. The suppression will lift if Patterson does not apply for special leave to appeal to the High Court by November 27, 2026.
| Legal Stage / Event | Date / Timeline | Key Judicial Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| The Fatal Luncheon | July 2023 | Beef Wellington served containing death cap mushrooms |
| Trial and Suppression | 2025 | Evidence ruled inadmissible by Justice Beale; suppression ordered |
| Appeal Dismissal | October 2026 | Life imprisonment without parole imposed by Court of Appeal |
| Current Ruling | November 12, 2026 | Secret evidence remains suppressed pending High Court deadline |
| High Court Deadline | November 27, 2026 | Suppression lifts if special leave to appeal is not filed |
In 2025, courts lifted other suppression orders covering material excluded from the initial trial. That released information included unproven allegations that Patterson had tried to murder her estranged husband Simon—claims she denied and which the prosecution ultimately dropped.
Additional details revealed last year included material recovered from Patterson’s computers. Those files featured a book appendix titled “Some common homicidal poisons”, a study about red kidney bean poisoning in the UK, and a paper on abrin, a highly toxic compound found in rosary pea seeds.
