1 week Ago By Ellis Whitehouse,Katie Palmer
This is the chilling tale of a "cold and calculated" murderer who poisoned a couple from Mersea Island to pilfer their wealth, a man police consider one of the most dangerous they've ever come across. In March 2024, Luke D'Wit was convicted of the murders of Carol and Stephen Baxter. Now 35, D'Wit murdered the Baxters using fentanyl after masquerading as a doctor and forging a Will to ensure he profited from their demise.
The double murder is the focus of a two-part ITV documentary The Essex Millionaire Murders, set to air this Monday and Tuesday (April 28 and 29) at 9pm. D'Wit wove an intricate web of lies and deceit that eventually ensnared him in what investigating police officers labelled as one of the most complex criminal cases they had ever tackled. D'Wit impersonated a fictional doctor to manipulate Carol Baxter's medication, feigning assistance in treating her autoimmune disease but actually exacerbating her health condition.
On Easter Sunday (April 9) in 2023, Carol and Stephen were discovered lifeless by their daughter in their Mersea Island residence. Both were found with no visible injuries or clear cause of death. It was only weeks later that a toxicology report unveiled they had died not by accident but by fentanyl poisoning.
Their friend, 34 year old Luke D'Wit, was the last person to see them alive, reports Essex Live. When D'Wit was apprehended, police discovered several fentanyl patches which he initially claimed belonged to his deceased father, and later said were his grandfather's. Investigators also found a bag containing metal tacks and pill casings, believed to have been given to Carol, resulting in her hospitalisation after x-rays revealed the tacks in her stomach.
On Good Friday (April 7, 2023), D'Wit was the last person to see Carol and Stephen alive, leaving their home just before 8pm. He administered a lethal dose of fentanyl to the couple he had befriended, even setting up a camera inside their home to watch their demise. In his testimony, D'Wit alleged that he and Stephen were behind the fictitious personas, using them to make Carol believe she was receiving help for her health and mental health issues.
However, under cross-examination, his story crumbled as messages between the fictitious characters and Stephen Baxter were read out, proving it implausible that Stephen was part of D'Wit's intricate scheme. The nearly six-week trial at Chelmsford Crown Court concluded on March 20 last year, with a jury unanimously finding D'Wit, of Churchfields, West Mersea, guilty of both murders. He was subsequently handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 37 years before he can be considered for parole.
Detective Superintendent Rob Kirby, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, commented after the verdict: "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." Det Supt Kirby continued: "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.
" The documentary series 'Essex Millionaire Murders' will be shown on ITV on April 28 and 29 at 9pm..
