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Mushroom murderer Erin Patterson will appeal against her convictions, the Victorian supreme court has heard.
Patterson’s barrister, Richard Edney, confirmed she would appeal during a short hearing in Melbourne on Thursday morning.
On 8 September, Patterson was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years for the murders of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.
Patterson was convicted in July after an 11-week trial in Morwell. She maintained her innocence during the trial, claiming that she had not meant to serve beef wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms to her lunch guests in July 2023.
Top news
PNG to provide troops to Australia under first new alliance since Anzus
Israel’s Gaza flotilla interception triggers protests, diplomatic expulsions and calls for strikes
White House plays racist deepfake video of Democratic leaders on loop
At least 29 Americans have sought asylum in Australia since second Trump presidency began
Nirvana again defeats alleged child sexual abuse image lawsuit over Nevermind cover
In pictures
The world-renowned primatologist Jane Goodall has died at the age of 91. We remember her work and life in pictures.
What they said …
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“It was very surreal. I had to collect myself because I was getting emotional and didn’t want to do ugly crying on TV” – June Northcroft Grant.
Grant accepted a posthumous MPhil in anthropology from Oxford University on behalf of her relative Mākereti Papakura.
Papakura – believed to be the first woman from an Indigenous community to study at the university – died just weeks before completing her thesis documenting the life and customs of her tribe. In the decades since, her family has fought to have her degree recognised. Nearly 100 years after her death, that recognition was granted.
Full Story
Is the Trump plan for Gaza designed to fail?
On Monday, Donald Trump and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, stood together as they unveiled their plan to end the war in Gaza. But it was a 20-point proposal with precious little detail, drawn up with no involvement from Hamas or other Palestinians.
The Guardian’s Washington DC bureau chief, David Smith, speaks to Reged Ahmad on whether this proposal is a roadmap to peace or just theatrics by the US president.
Before bed read
For Shadi Khan Saif, a teenage refugee from Afghanistan, budgies are fragments of memory – of Karachi’s crowded markets, Kabul’s storytelling alleys and Australia’s open skies. Ahead of Australian bird of the year 2025, Shadi writes how this contrast between the captive budgies of his childhood and the wild flocks of his new home has become more than an observation: it is a lens through which he came to understand migration, freedom and belonging.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: GOR. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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