Man accused of poisoning couple and changing will 'had fentanyl in his backpack'

15 March 2024 , 19:02

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Luke D'Wit providing statements to the police (Image: PA)

An IT worker accused of fatally poisoning a married couple with fentanyl had patches of the strong opioid painkiller in a rucksack with him when he was arrested, a trial has been told.

Luke D'Wit is accused of murdering Stephen Baxter, 61, and his 64-year-old wife Carol, and rewriting their will to make him a director of their shower mat firm Cazsplash. The couple were found dead at their home in West Mersea, Essex, by their daughter Ellie on Easter Sunday last year.

D'Wit, 34, of West Mersea, denies the murders of Mr and Mrs Baxter, and is on trial at Chelmsford Crown Court. Tracy Ayling KC said in her prosecution closing speech on Friday that D'Wit murdered Mr and Mrs Baxter "calmly, coolly and in a way which had been entirely planned, maybe for some while".

Stephen Baxter and his wife Carol were found dead sitting in their individual armchairs (PA)

A will shown to the jury during the trial of Luke D'Wit at Chelmsford Crown Court (PA)

"To his neighbours and his friends and even to some members of the Baxter family he's liked, he's kind and he's helpful," she said. "He's Carol Baxter's carer looking after her and giving her medication."

But she said D'Wit created a series of fake personalities and sent messages in a "whole web of lies", including a fake doctor encouraging them to take certain drinks. She said that although Mr Baxter was a "successful businessman meticulous in his business dealings" there are "scams aplenty out there and plenty of people who are intelligent and business savvy have fallen for them."

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Police at the couple's home in Essex (Essex Police / SWNS)

She said D'Wit poisoned the couple with fentanyl, with the sedating antihistamine promethazine also present in Mrs Baxter. Ms Ayling said a bag found on D'Wit when he was arrested at work contained fentanyl patches, opened and unopened.

She questioned whether it was "possible to believe his Adidas bag at work contained fentanyl patches he was taking to the pharmacy" following the death of his father in 2021. The barrister said quadruple doses of promethazine were also found, describing them as "made up pills with four times the amount of promethazine as normal".

"There can only be one purpose for having these and that's to fool someone into believing they were taking a proper dose when they were actually taking four times the amount," said Ms Ayling. She said the house where he was living was a "treasure trove of opened pills around the house" and that there was a pestle and mortar.

The couple were found dead on Easter Sunday last year (PA)

The barrister said D'Wit "in the cruellest possible way was overdosing Carol Baxter on promethazine", causing symptoms "like dementia, Parkinson's and probably a stroke". She described "evidence of a secret... pill-making factory, pills to cause that torture to Carol Baxter I have spoken of and eventually to kill the Baxters."

"Perhaps it was the finances, perhaps it was control and manipulation, the one thing the Crown does not have to prove is the motive for any of this or all of this," she said. She said D'Wit had previously said he had cancer but there was "absolutely no evidence" of this and on his arrest he was asked if he had any medical conditions and replied "no".

Ms Ayling said the Baxters had been planning for a new house, travel, retirement and Mr Baxter had even booked his car in for an MOT the following week. The trial continues, with the defence closing speech due to be heard on Monday.

Sam Russell