The Global Story
The Global Story
Australia’s mushroom killer trial
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9 October 2025
27 minutes
Available for over a year
It’s been called ‘Australia's trial of the century’. Erin Patterson, the mushroom murderer, was sentenced last month and given a life sentence, but that wasn’t the end of the story. Both the prosecution and the defence are lodging competing appeals. Patterson wants her conviction overturned, and if her appeal succeeds there could be a retrial. Her prosecutors, however, say her 33 year sentence is ‘manifestly inadequate’ and they want to see her receive longer jail time.
These are the latest developments in a story that has launched a flurry of true crime podcasts, books and documentaries. A TV drama is in production, and one of Australia's most eminent writers has announced she’s writing a book about it.
The BBC’s Katy Watson talks us through how this suburban triple-murder story became the focus of the increasingly voracious true-crime industry.
Producers: Viv Jones, Xandra Ellin and Valerio Esposito
Executive producer: Annie Brown
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Image: Erin Patterson. AAP/James Ross via REUTERS
