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A 'cold and calculated' IT worker who poisoned a couple with fentanyl after creating a fake will to ensure he benefited financially from their deaths has been found guilty of murder.

Luke D'Wit, 34, was employed by Stephen and Carol Baxter but became so close to them he described himself to police as being 'like an adopted son'.

But he secretly administered fatal doses of opioid fentanyl - 100 times more powerful than morphine - into their drinks and 'watched them die' on a secret camera before removing incriminating evidence from their million-pound home in the yachting village of West Mersea, Essex.

The Baxters' daughter Ellie wept as the verdicts were read out. D'Wit, 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.

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




Luke D'Wit 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 in the conservatory of their million-pound home in Essex in April last year





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






D'Wit, 33, 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










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





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





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





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







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.

'We were all dolls in his dollhouse' - murder victims' children's fury and grief after killer is found guilty


Ellie Baxter, daughter of Carol and Stephen Baxter

'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.

'Over the coming years we had planned to go travelling as we both wanted to go to Japan and India. A dream of ours that now can never be fulfilled. My mum loved my son to bits. She would constantly buy him toys and take him out for walks in his pram.

'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.

'He said my son just fitted perfectly in his arms like my brother and I did. He lit up and he was excited for my new baby. A new baby he never got a chance to meet. We used to stay up late talking and watching horror films.

'Dad also loved to play guitar. In the summer we would have bonfires and the guitar would always come out. Watching my dad play and sing so freely is where my love for music began. 

'Dad initially got my brother Harry into guitar lessons where they would go together and learn then serenade mum and I. Never again will I be able to have a jam with my dad; neither will my brother.'

Harry Baxter, son of Carol and Stephen Baxter 

'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. My eldest daughter will forever have lost the wealth of wisdom and experience my parents possessed. My mum was the definition of the word "love". 

'I do not refer to April of 2023: I refer to the day Luke began his foul games torturing and drugging her. Unbeknownst to me, I had already lost my mother a long time ago.

'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.

'My father on the other hand is the definition of intelligence. A critical thinker and problem solver and a person people could absolutely rely on. Most of all thorough to an astounding level of excellence. Revered within his industry, it was almost as if it seemed like he never broke a sweat.

'He sacrificed his life for us to live on and when the days came where he could finally take time and retire and have time to teach me, a young man, naive and keen at the beginning of his adult life it was stolen away by someone we all trusted the most.

'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.'



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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.

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: Agricultural productivity '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





The Baxters' daughter Ellie told the court her parents were 'irritated' by D'Wit's constant presence at their home 







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.