MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Triple-murderer Erin Patterson should never be released from prison after she poisoned four of her estranged husband’s relatives with death cap mushrooms, a prosecutor told an Australian court on Thursday.
Prosecutor Brendan Kissane told three judges of the Victoria state Court of Appeal that a judgment that Patterson must serve 33 years of a life sentence before she can apply for parole was “manifestly inadequate,” in an appeal on the leniency of her sentence.
Kissane said Patterson should never be considered for parole but that if the judges did not agree, then they should impose a nonparole period longer than 33 years.
“That’s a harsh submission to make,” Kissane said of removing any possibility of parole.
“But … it’s demanded by the nature of the offending,” he added.
Patterson on Wednesday began her appeal against convictions on three counts of murder and one of attempted murder relating to a lunch of beef Wellington pastries she prepared at her rural home in Leongatha in July 2023.
Few Australian prisoners are sentenced without prospect of release on parole.
The judges reserved their decisions on both appeals until a date to be set.
Kissane said the 51-year-old would be around 82 years old before she could be considered for release under her current sentence.
Because of her notoriety, Patterson is held in the high-security Gordon Unit of Melbourne’s Dame Phyllis Frost Centre women’s prison. The unit is for prisoners assessed as being at high risk from other inmates.
In sentencing her in September last year, trial judge Christopher Bale said there was a “substantial chance” that Patterson could be held in “solitary confinement for years to come.”
Kissane argued that the judge's conclusion was not supported by evidence and that Patterson’s prison conditions were reviewed every month.
Her lawyer, Richard Edney, said Patterson was being held in solitary confinement as defined by the United Nations — confinement for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact.
Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was invited to the fatal lunch but did not attend.
His parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, died. Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, spent weeks in hospital, but survived.
Patterson argued during her trial that the poisoning was an accident.
Kissane described Patterson’s crimes as “pitiless behavior” and “truly dreadful.”
Prosecution court documents said “there is no factually comparable case to this.”
But they submitted that Melbourne man Osman Shaptafaj was set a nonparole period of 35 years in 2022 for murdering his own daughter and her husband, partly because he was not invited to their wedding.
They also submitted that Melbourne man Jaymes Todd was set a nonparole period of 43 years in 2019 for the rape and murder of comedian Eurydice Dixon in a city park.
Under state law, a judge must set a nonparole period for murder unless that judge considers the nature of the offense or the past history of the offender makes such a minimum sentence inappropriate.
Earlier on Thursday, prosecutor Jeremy McWilliams rejected Patterson’s lawyers’ argument that her five days of cross-examination during her trial had been “unfair and oppressive.” It was one of Patterson's grounds for appeal against convictions.
Her cross-examination by prosecutor Nanette Rogers had been “thorough, fair and conducted in accordance with settled principles and the prosecutor’s overarching duty of fairness,” McWilliams said.
Patterson’s trial lawyer Colin Mandy had described his client in his closing address as a “pedantic witness,” McWilliams said, adding Rogers had been required to rephrase questions to “receive a responsive answer.”
In pretrial testimony only made public after her trial, Simon Patterson said he suspected his wife had deliberately made him seriously ill with dishes. No poisons were ever found.
Erin Patterson was initially charged with three counts of attempting to murder him three times between November 2021 and September 2022. She had denied all charges.
Prosecutors dropped all charges relating to the husband before her trial began in April 2025.
In a supplied court sketch, Erin Patterson is depicted on a video link from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, as seen in the Victorian Court of Appeal in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. (Anita Lester/AAP Image via AP)
FILE - Erin Patterson is escorted away from the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, on Sept. 8, 2025. (Joel Carrett/AAP Image via AP, File)
Erin Patterson is depicted by an artist's sketch from a video link at the Victorian Court of Appeal in Melbourne, Australia Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. (Anita Lester/AAP Image via AP)
HILVERSUM, Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 20, 2026--
NEP Group, the leading media services provider for live sports and entertainment worldwide, today announced the launch of EU-01, its newest outside broadcast unit and another major step in its strategy to build new units around a common technical framework designed to operate across European markets. The approach gives customers a consistent production experience, with familiar tools, workflows and production environments wherever their events take them across the region.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260820481592/en/
Built on a common IP-based technical architecture, EU-01 takes a hybrid approach, bringing together software-defined capabilities and traditional hardware-based solutions engineered to work seamlessly together. This gives NEP greater flexibility to deploy production capacity across European markets while preserving a familiar operating environment for customers and production teams.
NEP Platform, the industry’s largest ecosystem of trusted software applications for live media production, is a key enabler of this standardised approach, helping teams deploy and configure software-defined capabilities faster and respond more efficiently to the evolving needs of live production.
Designed to UEFA technical specifications, EU-01 is capable of supporting the highest levels of international production while remaining flexible enough to move between sports, entertainment and other live productions. The unit will begin supporting ESPN's coverage of the Eredivisie in the Netherlands and will be showcased during the IBC Show 2026, where customers and partners will have the opportunity to tour EU-01 in person.
“Our customers want the confidence that wherever they’re producing across Europe, they’ll have access to the tools, workflows and production environments they know and trust,” said Lise Heidal, President of NEP Europe.
“That’s what we’re building toward with a more standardised fleet. EU-01 brings that strategy to life, giving our teams the consistency and agility to respond quickly to customer needs while delivering a seamless production experience wherever their events take them.”
A Standardised Approach Across Europe
NEP Europe’s standardised approach enables production teams to move more easily between markets while maintaining familiar tools and workflows. It also gives NEP greater flexibility to deploy production capacity across countries as customer needs change, helping maximise the scale and utilisation of its European fleet.
The approach builds on NEP’s launch earlier this year of EU-03, which is also equipped with NEP Platform and TFC and supports hybrid production by combining traditional broadcast hardware with software-defined capabilities.
Software-Defined Production with NEP Platform
Integrated into EU-01, NEP Platform orchestrates trusted software applications through a single, secure interface, simplifying configuration and enabling faster deployment of production-ready capabilities. At launch, EU-01 utilises Lawo HOME, Manifold and Bridge Technologies’ VB440 through NEP Platform, demonstrating how software-defined capabilities can operate alongside traditional broadcast hardware.
The same approach is already deployed in NEP facilities supporting major productions worldwide. NEP Platform is also available to customers for deployment within their own facilities, backed by NEP’s global engineering expertise and operational experience.
Software Orchestration Meets Broadcast Control
EU-01 also incorporates NEP’s TFC broadcast control system, complementing NEP Platform with the monitoring and operational control required for live production. Together, NEP Platform and TFC bring software orchestration and broadcast control into a unified environment, giving production teams greater visibility, efficiency and flexibility.
Built on a UHD HDR SMPTE ST 2110 architecture, EU-01 features 14 production workspaces across two control rooms and supports 24 cameras, with expansion capability to 48 when required. Additional capabilities include six EVS replay positions, support for up to 192 video inputs and outputs, a Riedel intercom solution and a Dolby Atmos-ready audio room.
NEP Europe’s EU-01 will be on display at the IBC Show in Amsterdam, 11-14 September. To participate in a walkthrough or to learn how NEP Platform and TFC can modernise and simplify media operations, connect with an NEP expert today.
About NEP
Celebrating 40 years of innovation, NEP is the world’s most trusted media services partner for content creators of live sports and entertainment. With a global network of experts, cutting-edge technology, and an expansive portfolio of customer-driven, innovative solutions, we empower our customers to tell their stories in breakthrough ways.
Headquartered in the United States and operating in 25 countries, our teams have supported thousands of major productions and events on every continent with innovation, excellence and reliability. See how we bring content to life at nepgroup.com.
NEP Europe’s standardised fleet approach enables production teams to move more easily between markets while maintaining familiar tools and workflows.
NEP's EU-01 is capable of supporting the highest levels of international production while remaining flexible enough to move between sports, entertainment and other live productions.
