A jury has found mushroom cook Erin Patterson guilty of the murders of three of people and the attempted murder of a fourth.

The jury returned its verdict on Monday afternoon, a week after they began deliberating after the 10-week trial in the Victorian Supreme Court trial at Morwell, in regional Victoria.

The 50-year-old mother blinked but appeared emotionless as four guilty verdicts were read out by the jury’s foreperson to a full court-room of onlookers.

It followed weeks of evidence about whether Patterson, 50, intentionally served her lunch guests beef Wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms.

Patterson’s former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather, all died after consuming the lunch at her regional Victorian home on July 29, 2023.

Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson also ate the meal but survived after spending months in hospital.

Patterson claims it was all an accident and had denied three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.

The jury heard from more than 50 prosecution witnesses throughout the trial before Patterson entered the witness box for eight days.

The prosecution and defence then spent a week delivering their closing arguments before Justice Christopher Beale provided his directions to the jury.

He said they needed to consider whether the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Patterson deliberately served death caps with the intention to kill her guests.

Beale reminded the jurors if they held any doubts about Patterson’s guilt, they must acquit her.

“You cannot be satisfied that the accused is guilty of an offence if you have a reasonable doubt if she is guilty of the offence,” he told them.

The jury was sequestered during the deliberations and had to reach unanimous verdicts on all charges.

Beale reiterated that every juror must agree on the verdict, although it did not matter how each person reached their conclusion.

-more to come

-with AAP