Police accuse lunch host of murdering three guests with poisonous mushrooms

A police officer and dog investigate at the property of Erin Patterson in Leongatha, Australia (James Ross/AAP)

The host of a weekend family lunch at her Australian country home has been charged with murdering three guests with poisonous mushrooms and attempting to murder a fourth who was left fighting for life, police said.

Police arrested Erin Patterson, 49, earlier on Thursday at her home in Leongatha, in the state of Victoria, where her former husband’s parents Gail and Don Patterson, both aged 70, Gail Patterson’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, and her husband Ian Wilkinson, 68, were invited for lunch on July 29.