Fentanyl murderer who poisoned married millionaire couple after faking their will would have become a SERIAL KILLER, police believe after he is found guilty of the 'cool and calculated' plot

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The fentanyl murderer who poisoned a millionaire couple in a 'cool and calculated' plot would have become a serial killer, police believe.

Luke D'Wit, 34, wormed his way into the lives of Stephen, 61, and Carol Baxter, 64, and created up to 20 alter egos which he used to manipulate the couple.  

He had been hired by the Baxters in 2013 to help set up a website for their shower mat business, Cazsplash. 

Over the next decade D'Wit would frequently turn up at the couple's home as part of his twisted plot to befriend them in order to get his hands on their business by creating a fake will. 

The handyman later told police the couple saw him as like an 'adopted son', yet the couple's daughter, Ellie, said her parents were becoming 'irritated' by his frequent visits to their home and saw him as 'nerdy weird'. 

In April 2023, he laced their drinks with a fatal dose of fentanyl - 100 times more powerful than morphine - and watched them die on a secret camera app he had set up on his phone. 

Today, the detective who led the investigation to snare the killer described him as 'one of most dangerous men I've ever experienced' and was left in no doubt in believing he would have become a serial killer. 

Luke D'Wit, 34, in his police issued mugshot. He has been convicted unanimously of murdering a married couple after poisoning them with fentanyl

Stephen and Carol Baxter were found dead at their million-pound detached home in West Mersea, Essex, in April 2023 

Detective Superintendent Rob Kirby described D'Wit as one of the most dangerous men he had come across and was left in no doubt he would have killed again

Ellie, 22, discovered her parents dead at their home in West Mersea, Essex, on April 9, with harrowing doorbell footage capturing the moment. 

D'Wit lived nearby and arrived at the million-pound detached home and coolly spoke with the 999 operator to say the couple were dead as grief-stricken Ellie wailed in the background. 

Police body-worn footage captured the him chatting with officers with Detective Superintendent Rob Kirby saying D'Wit would have 'enjoyed the drama and watching the scene he created'. 

Ellie wept today as D'Wit was convicted at Chelmsford Crown Court of their murders. The cold-blooded killer, who used a wheelchair throughout the trial, did not appear to react in the secure dock of the court as the unanimous verdicts were read out.

Speaking outside court following the verdict, Det Supt Kirby warned D'Wit had developed a taste for murder.

He said: 'There was no bloody murder scene. There was no obvious murder weapon. But Carol and Stephen Baxter's deaths were cold and calculated acts of murder carried out by a dangerous man who clearly planned to get away with it.

'In all my years in policing, Luke D'Wit is one of the most dangerous men I have come across. I have absolutely no doubt that had he not been caught, he would have gone onto commit further murders.

'He would befriend people and purport to be an upstanding, helpful and kind member of the community. The reality is far more sinister. He is a cold, calculated murderer.'

Ring doorbell footage captured the horrifying moment the Baxters' daughter arrived at their home to discover her parents dead  

The couple were found at home by their daughter Ellie - pictured here leaving court during D'Wit's murder trial

D'Wit, 34, was called to the scene by the Baxters' daughter because he was so trusted - he is seen here speaking to police, captured on their body-worn camera

Police searching their home found this fake will D'Wit prepared to insert himself into their business as a 'person with significant control'

He added: 'D'Wit went to great lengths to cover up his tracks. He deceived everyone who knew him, who welcomed him into their family homes and who relied upon him for help, or at least what they believed was help. 

'What he didn't bank on was that our detectives at Essex Police were much smarter and determined to secure justice.

'Those lies, and that deception, continued in the evidence he gave in court. Disgracefully, he based his defence on collusion between himself and Stephen Baxter. 

'Stephen is tragically not here to defend himself but from everything we know about him, this could never have been the case. Thankfully, the jury saw through his fantasies and gave guilty verdicts.'

Mr Justice Lavender said sentencing would take place on Friday, adding: 'Mr D'Wit will be remanded in custody.'

D'Wit, who added a clause to the couple's wills stating he was to be made a director of their specialist shower mats firm Cazsplash, befriended the couple as he helped them build a website for their business.

He was found to have packets of fentanyl at the nearby home he shared with his mother. The drug had been prescribed to his father, who died of cancer in 2021.

He denied any involvement in the Baxters' deaths during a five-week trial at Chelmsford Crown Court but was convicted unanimously by the jury today after they began their deliberations on Monday.

Detectives say D'Wit is among the 'most dangerous' people they have ever encountered because of the way in which he killed his victims, and believe he would have gone on to become a serial killer if he hadn't been stopped.

The Baxters' son, Harry, said afterwards: 'Luke D'Wit took what we all held most sacred and found a way to extract it for himself. Our life will forever be punctured by the gravity of his actions. 

'I feel great sadness looking back on the videos of her when she was acting strangely and seeing him in the background giggling and smiling knowing he's the one inflicting this pain as we were all dolls in his dollhouse, victim to his manipulation.

'Luke D'Wit completely destroyed everything we held close to our hearts and every memory and future dream we could have shared.

'All I can do now is focus on my family by loving and protecting my partner and baby and our future members of the family. We have the important role of not only mother and father, but also capture the memory of a now sadly lost grandmother and grandfather.'

The couple's daughter, Ellie, added: 'My mum and dad are dead. But they didn't just die. They were taken from me and my young children.

'My mum lost her freedom, her will, her ability to function two years prior to her murder due to her illness. An illness no one could help with or understand because it was contrived by Luke D'Wit.

'Mum felt so alone and lost and there was nothing I could do other then give her my shoulder to cry on and cuddle her.

'My mum was full of life, and she always pushed me to be better. We would have girly days out at the spa and plenty of shopping trips. She was my best friend. We would laugh together, cry together and support each other.

'My dad was a strong man. "There are no short cuts in life," he would always say. He worked every day of his life and provided for mum, my brother and I. There was nothing we ever needed. He loved us all.'

Tracy Ayling KC said in her prosecution closing speech that D'Wit murdered Mr and Mrs Baxter 'calmly, coolly and in a way which had been entirely planned, maybe for some while'. 

Ms Ayling added that she would be preparing a sentencing note calling for a minimum jail term of 30 years or a whole life sentence 'because of the death of two people and other aggravating factors'.

A Home Office pathologist concluded on June 29 last year that the couple had both died from fentanyl poisoning with promethazine poisoning also being a factor in Mrs Baxter’s death. D’Wit was arrested for the murders on July 6 last year.

The bodies of Mr and Mrs Baxter were found in armchairs in the conservatory of their five-bedroom detached home by their daughter Ellie, 22, and her partner Marcus Young, on April 9.

Oddball D'Wit, who shared a bedroom with his mother, set up a surveillance app on a mobile phone which he planted in their luxury home so he could watch on another device as they lay dying in their armchairs in their conservatory. 

Police later found that he had downloaded the iHeart home security app, often used by people to monitor babies and animals, on two of his phones, enabling one to be placed secretly in the Baxters' home and the other to receive pictures.

The home of the millionaire tycoon husband and wife in Essex where their bodies were found 

Stephen and Carol Baxter were found dead in the conservatory of their million-pound home in Essex in April last year

CCTV from a doorbell camera showing D'Wit leaving the Baxters' house on the day he poisoned them with fentanyl

Luke D'Wit in police custody shortly after his arrest on suspicion of murder. He was convicted following a five-week trial at Chelmsford Crown Court

Verification codes for the app were sent to both his phones on the afternoon of April 7 before one was left on a shelf where it was able to film their conservatory.

Police later discovered six cached images showing the couple in their chairs between 5.14pm and 5.45pm on April 7. The images were shown to the jury with the faces of the couple blacked out.

Miss Baxter and her partner broke in with the help of a neighbour wielding a hammer to smash the conservatory door after she saw them slumped and unconscious through a window.

The jury heard how D'Wit was so trusted by Miss Baxter that Mr Young messaged him from the scene, and he rushed over from the cottage he shared with his widowed mother Jan in nearby Churchfields, West Mersea.

In a harrowing 999 call, Miss Baxter could be heard wailing: 'They're poisoned. They're dead. They're frozen.'

D'Wit described in court how he 'literally ran' from his home five minutes away. The jury was played the 999 call after he took the phone from Miss Baxter - as Miss Baxter could be heard crying hysterically in the background.

He coolly told the call handler of her anguished cries: 'I need to come outside. It's their daughter you can hear. You can hear their daughter's devastated.'

As Miss Baxter's heartbroken sobbing continues in the background, D'Wit  adds, without a trace of guilt: 'They're both just cold.'

Police body-worn camera footage then showed him at the scene speaking to officers, claiming Mrs Baxter was prone to overdosing on her prescriptions.

Police initially assumed the Baxters had died from carbon monoxide poisoning but tests revealed the substance in their systems and launched a murder investigation. 

D'Wit became a suspect – along with Miss Baxter and Mr Young, although their involvement was later ruled out.

Miss Baxter, giving evidence, confirmed she and her partner had been arrested on suspicion of murdering her parents before being released without charge.

Under cross examination by D'Wit's barrister Adam Davis KC, she denied 'doing her best' to try and implicate him.

Mr Davis also asked her: 'Were you involved in a cover up of your parents' suicide, which involved saying things about Luke, which involved the planting of fentanyl patches?'

Miss Baxter choked back tears as she replied: 'No, not at all. All I am guilty of is loving my parents.'

Stephen and Carol were found dead sitting in their individual armchairs in their conservatory on Easter Sunday - April 9 - last year

Police at the scene of Stephen and Carol Baxter's deaths in West Mersea in April last year

When police searched the Baxters' home, they found items that were not there at the time of their deaths - including fentanyl patches and a fake will.

The will, which was not held by the couple's solicitors, described D'Wit as a 'dear friend' who would take control of their company - immediately arousing detectives' suspicions.

Prosecutors said he created the deceptive decree on his phone the day after the Baxters were found dead, making him a director of their shower mat company Cazsplash.

Another fake persona - a solicitor - was used in connection with the new will, prosecutors said.

And the patches found at the Baxters' home had the same batch number as those found in D'Wit's bag when he was arrested at the premises of multiple sclerosis charity MS-UK. 

D'Wit – a 'nerd' who held a degree in computer science but had little social life and whose friends thought was asexual - ingratiated himself by carrying out chores for the Baxters, particularly mother-of-four Mrs Baxter, 64, who had an autoimmune condition that affected her thyroid and also had a pacemaker.

He would make sure she took her medication and often made her and her husband, 61, 'disgusting' herbal remedies and smoothies.

The concoctions which included lemon, iodine and turmeric, would have masked the taste of other drugs that he allegedly added, making Mrs Baxter feel tired and increasingly confused - a fact that did not go unnoticed by her children.

The prosecution said D'Wit had been preparing drinks for them since 2022, including their 'final cup' on the day of their deaths.

He had created more than 20 fake online personas, purporting to be from doctors and support groups among others, to 'manipulate' the family.

One email from a bogus expert the day before the couple died suggested they have a drink made from hot water, aspirin and lemon juice.

Miss Baxter, 22, said her parents became 'irritated' that D'Wit was so frequently at their home in Victory Road and they thought the computer-science graduate was 'nerdy weird'. 

Giving evidence in court, D'Wit claimed Mr Baxter, a senior executive with an international property firm, had asked him to invent the bogus characters and helped him draft messages from them to encourage his wife to take her medication – but the jury saw through the deception.

Police also found D'Wit in possession of capsules of the drug promethazine, an antihistamine used in over-the-counter cold medicines, which had been specially adapted to contain four times the usual potency using a makeshift pestle and mortar.

The drug was also found in lethal quantities in Mrs Baxter's blood and was a contributory cause of her death.

Jurors were told how Mrs Baxter had a CT scan in Colchester General Hospital on February 8, 2022, after complaining of abdominal pain and was found to have a 17mm metal tack in her colon.

Identical tacks, which had been sold by Fred's DIY store in West Mersea, were later found in D'Wit's possession.

Det Supt Kirby said: 'This was a significant and unique police investigation involving many teams across the force. The download and analysis of D'Wit's digital devices was one of the most complex we have seen.

'The holes in D'Wit's false account were opened to expose lies, deceit and calculated planning and he can now look forward to a very long prison sentence.

'We cannot forget the devastating impact this has had on Stephen and Carol's family, and our thoughts will remain with them as they – I truly hope – continue to rebuild their lives.

'I hope there is some comfort for them in knowing that the man responsible is where he should be.'