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Erin Patterson’s new barrister has told a court his team needs more time to prepare an appeal case against the triple murderer’s conviction.
Defence barrister Richard Edney joined solicitors Bill Doogue and Ophelia Holloway for a brief hearing in Melbourne’s Supreme Court on Thursday morning, where he announced his team’s intention to lodge an appeal.
Erin Patterson is taken from the Supreme Court of Victoria after her sentencing last month.Credit: AFP
“I can indicate there will be an appeal against conviction,” Edney said.
Justice Christopher Beale noted a new procedural rule was being trialled, whereby the Court of Appeal will grant extensions for applications for an extra 28 days without the applicant needing to explain why they need more time.
This means Patterson’s legal team will have 56 days to lodge their paperwork.
“Given the length of this trial, the applicant wants to take advantage of that extension of time?” Beale asked.
Richard Edney, left, leading Erin Patterson’s legal team into court.Credit: Wayne Taylor
“Yes,” Edney replied.
Crown prosecutor Jane Warren told the court she had no issue with an extension.
On Wednesday, this masthead revealed that a new barrister was brought in to look at Patterson’s case.
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Patterson’s 28-day window to appeal ends at midnight on October 6, but the new procedural rule means this timeframe has now doubled.
The change came after members of the legal fraternity raised concerns about difficulties completing the necessary documentation before the deadline closed.
Edney is Patterson’s third senior barrister. She used Colin Mandy, SC, for her trial, and Phillip Dunn, KC, when she was charged.
On September 4, Patterson was sentenced to life in jail with a non-parole period of 33 years after a jury found her guilty of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson.
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The 51-year-old fed her lunch guests beef Wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms at her home in July 2024.
The jury also found her guilty of attempting to murder the lunch’s sole survivor, Baptist pastor Ian Wilkinson.
Simon Patterson, the killer’s estranged husband, was also invited to lunch but cancelled the evening before.
Her sentence makes her one of Victoria’s longest-serving female inmates. She will have just turned 82 before she is granted the opportunity for freedom in 2056.
A spokeswoman for the Office of Public Prosecution said they were yet to decide if they would appeal Patterson’s sentence.
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