Victoria's Court of Appeal has dismissed a bid by media outlets, including the ABC, to lift a suppression order over secret evidence in the Erin Patterson case, according to a report published on November 12, 2026. The three judges said the material, if published, would likely attract very significant publicity and could pose a real and substantial risk of unfair prejudice to any future trial.

The evidence had been set to be included in Patterson's 2025 trial but was ruled inadmissible midway through after further legal argument, so the jury never heard it. The judges called this an exceptional case and said the ruling did not mean contentious inadmissible evidence would automatically be suppressed elsewhere. The order would lift if Patterson failed to apply for special leave to appeal to the High Court by November 27.

Last month the court dismissed all seven grounds of Patterson's appeal and changed her sentence to life without parole over the deaths of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson. The ABC said it could not report the evidence's details for legal reasons.