Erin Patterson: The hotel booking snafu that could free mushroom murderer - BBC News

A table tennis tournament and a throat lozenge could help Erin Patterson's lawyers overturn her convictions.

Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesImage caption, Erin Patterson is trying to overturn her convictions

Last July, hundreds descended on Australia's Gippsland region from around the country for the most exciting event on the annual table tennis calendar.

But as elite players vied for medals at the national championships, one of the biggest criminal cases in the nation's history - that of mushroom murderer Erin Patterson - was unfolding just a few kilometres away.

This tournament inadvertently became part of a perfect storm which the triple killer's lawyers are now arguing "fatally undermined" the fairness of her trial.

The jury which condemned Patterson to prison were supposed to be isolated - sheltered from the frenzy surrounding the case while they deliberated.