Restraining order on Erin Patterson’s Leongatha house ahead of sentencing

Prosecutors want to prevent the sale of Erin Patterson’s house in case it can be sold to compensate her victims.

Erin Patterson’s house in Leongatha. Picture: AFP

The house of triple murderer Erin Patterson has been legally restrained by prosecutors to prevent its sale amid possible compensation claims by family members of the victims.

A restraining order on the $1.1m house in Leongatha, Victoria, was granted by judge ­Michelle Quigley with the intended effect of stopping the offloading of the property by Patterson. Patterson could face legal bills of up to $1m after an exhaustive pre-trial and trial process and her legal firm has lodged a mortgage over the property, which is standard ­procedure.

The house at 84 Gibson Street in Leongatha, in South Gippsland, is a central part of the Patterson story. She built it and it was the scene two years ago of the three death cap mushrooms murders. It is ­described on the Google map of the town as “Erin’s Mushroom House”.

Patterson has previously sold a $1m villa in Mount Waverley, in eastern Melbourne, and inherited up to $3m from two wills, one involving her Adelaide grandmother.

While notionally well-off, Patterson bought and sold multiple properties in the lead-up to the killings. She is in prison awaiting sentencing after murdering her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and her husband’s aunt, Heather Wilkinson, 66.

Using death cap mushrooms, the former air traffic controller cooked beef Wellingtons for the in-laws, who suffered terrible deaths. Ian Wilkinson, 71, Heather’s husband, almost died. Patterson was also convicted of attempting to kill Ian Wilkinson.

The restraining order on the house would prevent the property being sold before any possible compensation claims were dealt with, with multiple relatives affected by the murders.

Patterson was described by friends as being independently wealthy, having inherited from her grandmother’s large South Australian estate and also when her mother died in Eden in NSW.

But it’s not clear how much of her inheritances had already been consumed, Patterson having provided generous loans to some relatives of her husband, Simon Patterson.

She bought and sold multiple houses in Western Australia and Victoria, although the Gibson Street house on a large block on the edge of town was seen as being her lifelong dream.

Being the subject of two ­potential claims will add a severe financial burden to Patterson after being found guilty of the mushroom murders.

It is expected that Patterson will appeal her convictions but will face a lengthy prison term because of the scale of her ­offending.

Unless her appeal is successful, she may not see freedom until well into her 80s, with the average woman dying at 85 in Australia.