A British IT worker, Luke D’Wit, 34, has been sentenced to a minimum of 37 years in prison for the murder of Stephen and Carol Baxter, aged 61 and 64, at their home in West Mersea, east of London. The sentencing came after D’Wit was found guilty of poisoning the couple with fentanyl and monitoring their deaths using his cellphone.
During the trial at Chelmsford Crown Court, it was revealed that D’Wit had created a fake will on his phone to make himself a director of the couple's shower mat company, following their deaths. He had also used various personas to manipulate the Baxters, including pretending to be a doctor from Florida and a member of a fake support group for a medical condition Carol Baxter suffered from.
Justice Nicholas Lavender described D’Wit's actions as 'cruel and senseless' and handed down a life sentence with a minimum of 37 years before parole eligibility. The judge noted that D’Wit had extracted the fentanyl used in the poisoning from patches prescribed for his deceased father.
The court heard that D’Wit spiked a drink given to the couple on April 7, which they consumed as they trusted him to prepare health drinks for them. After they became unconscious, D’Wit used his cellphone to monitor them remotely while he left the house.
The daughter of the victims, Ellie Baxter, expressed the emotional pain caused by D’Wit's actions, stating that he had deceived his way into their lives over a decade. She found her parents dead two days after the poisoning, leading to a devastating impact on her.
Prosecutor Tracy Ayling highlighted the extensive manipulation tactics employed by D’Wit, characterizing the case as an 'extraordinary long-term' scheme of deceit.
