‘Feel half alive’: survivor of Australia’s mushroom murders mourns 2 years later

Pastor Ian Wilkinson wept in court as he spoke of the loss of his wife, Heather, after she ate a beef Wellington dish laced with death cap mushrooms – the world’s deadliest fungi.

Patterson, 50, was convicted last month of serving the poisonous fare to her husband’s parents, aunt and uncle at a sumptuous lunch in her rural home in the state of Victoria in 2023.

Within days, the parents and aunt were dead, but the uncle – Ian Wilkinson – survived after weeks in hospital to give testimony at his host’s murder trial, which became a global media sensation.

Patterson was present in the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne for the two-day hearing, set aside for relatives to testify to the impact of her crimes and for lawyers to argue over the severity of her sentencing.