- D’Wit manipulated, drugged victims, altered their wills for gain
- IT worker jailed for life for murdering couple with fentanyl
- Victim’s family devastated; D’Wit described as “perilous” by detective
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid with a potency approximately one hundred times that of morphine, was detected in the remains of Stephen and Carol Baxter upon their corpses being discovered in their residence.
An IT employee was sentenced to a minimum of 37 years in prison for the murder of a couple with fentanyl and for engaging in “foul games” in which one of his victims was drugged and tortured.
Luke D’Wit was convicted of the homicides of Stephen Baxter, aged 61, and Carol aged 64, as well as the alteration of their wills in order to acquire their bathroom company and shower mat.
He reportedly characterised himself to the couple as “almost like a son” during his employment with the couple. He was 34 years old.
Ellie, the Baxters’ daughter, uncovered them at their residence on Mersea Island in Essex on Easter Sunday of the previous year.
Shortly after that, D’Wit arrived and posed as their “friend” to a 999 call handler while providing a fabricated account; Ellie could be heard sobbing in the background.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid with a potency approximately one hundred times that of morphine, was detected within their bodies.
D’Wit, who had entered a plea of not guilty to the charge of murder, was found guilty by a unanimous verdict of the jury following a trial that exceeded one month at the Chelmsford Crown Court.
To manipulate them, he had amassed an arsenal of fictitious personas, including Florida-based physicians and members of a bogus support group for Mrs. Baxter’s thyroid condition, Hashimoto’s.
Seven fictitious personas were constructed, according to prosecutors; D’Wit had been drugging Mrs. Baxter for some time, causing it to appear as though she had dementia or suffered a stroke.
Tracy Ayling KC stated that he caused her agony for his gratification, and D’Wit had previously attempted to harm Mrs. Baxter by administering a pill containing a tack.
According to prosecutors, D’Wit allegedly forged a will on his smartphone the day following the Baxters’ bodies were discovered, which appointed him as a director of their company Cazsplash.
According to testimony provided by the couple’s daughter, her parents considered D’Wit to be “weird, but nerdy weird.”
She stated that he was eventually invited to their home “daily” after being hired in 2012 or 2013 to “assist in the development of the website” for their shower mat business.
In her victim impact statement, Ellie Baxter stated that D’Wit “lied his way into our lives” at Chelmsford Crown Court.
She characterized the assailant of her parents as “a man so manipulative that he infiltrated our lives more than a decade ago, devised and meticulously organized the demise of my parents.”
“They simply decided he was lonely, especially since Luke’s father passed away,” Ms. Baxter continued.
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“They took him under their wing and would let him join in.”
She reminisced about the instant she discovered her parents deceased, stating, “I have never before experienced such intense physical pain from an emotion.”
My insides felt as though they were on fire. I shrieked ceaselessly.”
Harry, their son, issued the following statement via Essex Police: “Upon reviewing the videos of her odd behavior and seeing him giggling and smiling in the background, I am overcome with sorrow, knowing that he is the one responsible for this suffering; we were all dolls in his dollhouse, susceptible to his manipulation.
The gravity of his actions shall perpetually pierce our existence.
Detective Superintendent Rob Kirby stated, “Without a doubt, one of the most perilous individuals I have ever encountered in my policing career,” following the conviction of D’Wit.
He added, “I have the utmost certainty that he would have committed additional murders had he not been apprehended.”
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