It is a fool’s errand to imagine that you might recognise on sight a mass murderer, as if the twisted soul should manifest upon the face, a curled lip or in cruel eyes.

Still, it seemed impossible to reconcile this small, unremarkable figure – someone you’d pass on the street without a glance – with the woman who has wrought such destruction and tumult on her family and community that she has gained worldwide infamy as the mushroom murderer.

Erin Patterson showed no trace of emotion as she was damned by a judge as a serial liar, as a person with no apparent remorse and as the architect of the premeditated murder of three people and the attempted murder of a fourth.

She sat immobile, as if asleep, as the judge declared her intention to kill continued even after she had dispensed he

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