IT worker sentenced to the next 36 years in prison for murdering Mersea Island couple
34-year-old Luke D'Wit was found guilty of the murders of Stephen and Carol Baxter on Wednesday
Last updated 22nd Mar 2024
An IT worker from Essex has been jailed for life, with at least the next 36 years to be spent in prison, for the murders of a married couple on Mersea Island.
Accounting for time spent in custody, D’Wit must serve 36 years and 108 days behind bars as a minimum, a total of 37 years with time already spent in custody, before being considered for parole.
61-year-old Stephen Baxter and 64-year-old Carol Baxter were found dead at their home on Mersea Island by their daughter on Easter Sunday last year.
Luke D'Wit, 34, of Churchfields, West Mersea, has today (March 22) been sentenced to X years in prison for the couple's murders, at Chelmsford Crown Court.
A few weeks after their deaths, toxicology results revealed that both Carol and Stephen had died as a result of lethal doses of fentanyl.
D'Wit poisoned the couple fentanyl after creating a gallery of online personas to manipulate them.
He befriended and worked for Stephen and Carol Baxter, before later changing their will to make him a director of their shower mat company.
Ellie Baxter was shaking as she read out her victim statement to Chelmsford Crown Court, her voice breaking as she detailed how D'Wit's actions have forever changed her life.
Speaking in court, she said:
"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. I tried to push her to go to the doctors which she did but she was completely brainwashed by Dr Andrea Bowden. I even suggested completely removing her thyroid because we all believed that was the root of the problem. No thyroid, no more of mums life being destroyed.
"Luke D’wit who was behind the persona Dr Andrea Bowden thought sending videos of my mum for Andrea to see would be a good idea. But in reality Luke just wanted to see and watch the outcome of his twisted, abominable actions. Sometimes even filming my mum himself and laughing.
"My mum was full of life 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. Even when she was at deaths door his face would still light her up. At times she wouldn’t be able to speak or properly open her eyes. but she could hear, she knew and her smile shone through.
"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. My Dad raised me to be strong and sincere. The first time my dad held my son, his first grandchild, he understood the love mum had for her grand children. He said my son just fit 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.
"Leading up to their deaths dad seemed lonely. Mum was too unwell. She struggled to eat and could not stay awake. Often my partner and I with our son would stay and have dinner with my dad and bring back his joy and spirit too. My mum being drugged for so long and needing such constant help was also, slowly but surely, tearing away every last bit of my dad’s soul. I felt so helpless.
"Dad really loved and respected my partner Marcus. There had been talk about us getting engaged which then led to conversations with me and dad about him being able to walk me down the aisle. He looked so proud even just speaking about it. We had a few drinks and started to slow dance pretending it was our daddy and daughter dance, laughing and getting excited for what the future will hold. I will forever hold onto that memory as any chance of that becoming possible has been stolen from me.
"Mum always had a sixth sense. There were things that she just knew. All throughout my life she just knew things it’s hard to explain. A week before they were murdered I was just over a week away from finding out the gender of my baby. Mum looked at me, touched my stomach, softly smiled and said that is a girl. Of course, mum was right. I know she is looking down on me and I know she knows but I never got that chance to tell her to her face that she was right. She has never seen nor held my daughter and she never will.
"A year before they passed my dad had said how he had found his dad passed away in his armchair. Stiff and cold to the touch. He swore he would do anything in his power to never let me have that experience and that moment has always stayed with him. A year went by and I found both my mum and dad stiff, stone cold, blue and leaking from their mouths. I have never known an emotional pain to physically hurt so much. It was like my insides were on fire. I screamed and screamed but nothing I done was helping. I pleaded for them to wake up. I begged them. But of course they could not wake. The next time I saw mum and dad they were in body bags. Dad’s nose and ears were leaking and mums eye had a puddle of fluid that had run out of her nose. I stroked mums hair and cried. They were gone. I kissed both of their heads. I just wish I had known. I wish I had done more and that is something I will forever have to live with. I took peace in knowing that mums pain was over until I learnt the reality of the situation. Of how my parents and I were manipulated and how someone we had loved, trusted and looked after for many years could do something so nefarious. The stress of this day caused me to have a bleed. I genuinely thought I had lost my daughter as well as my mum and dad.
"Mum and dad looked after Luke. They just decided he was lonely especially after Luke’s dad died. They took him under their wing and would let him join in. Even in our personal family birthday meals. Luke had his cancer treatment every Thursday and he would say it would take it out of him. Complain of headaches and fatigue. My parents and I would support him through this. But once again that was another lie. Another form of deceit. Another way to emotionally manipulate us all.
"Adjusting to life without my mum and dad so young was and is still very hard. We would see them all the time then suddenly there were just empty days I could not fill. Nothing could fill them. I should have still been with my mum and dad. Many times I have silly questions and look for guidance and I have no one to turn to now. I have no family left around me that I can trust. Mum and dad being murdered has destroyed everything they had spent years nourishing and cherishing. Everything they had built smashed into pieces and now I am alone, still trying to find them pieces to start piecing them together again for the sake of my children. I still text their phones. I still wish them happy birthday and merry Christmas. I messaged to tell them about my beautiful little girl and it still hurts when I don’t get a reply.
"They had so much life left to live and so much to look forward to. All crushed due to one man’s heinous crimes. A man my family protected and cared for. A man who lied his way into our lives. A man so manipulative he hacked his way into our lives over a decade ago, schemed and thoroughly planed my parent’s demise.
"Years of pain and trauma were given to us and the chance of countless years and endless memories have been snatched from my family and I."
Police address the sentence
"the significant sentence handed down today is entirely fitting for the pathological liar that he is"
Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Inspector Lydia George, senior investigating officer in the case, said: “It is simply impossible to put a number on the lives of Carol and Stephen. They were loving, generous parents. They helped people and touched the lives of many.
“They were entering a period in their lives where they should have been able to enjoy precious time with their grandchildren.
“They should have been planning holidays, looking forward to spending Christmases with family and living their lives to the full.
“Luke D’Wit took all that away in April 2023. He tried to cover it up. He went to great lengths to blame others who we know were not involved in any way.
“He clearly enjoyed the control he exerted over people, especially Carol and Stephen.
“Ultimately, the only person in this world who knows why he acted this way is Luke D’Wit - and he has proven time and time again to be a manipulator.
“What we do know is; the significant sentence handed down today is entirely fitting for the pathological liar that he is.
“For almost a year, we have been determined to secure justice in its entirety. Today marks the conclusion of one of the most complex investigations undertaken at Essex Police.”
Det Insp George added: “Today, though, is not about Luke D’Wit. And it’s not about Essex Police. It’s about Carol and Stephen and it’s about their family.
“We know nothing will bring Carol and Stephen back. We know nothing can give the family back their loving mother, sister and grandmother or their generous father, brother, son and grandfather.
“However, I truly hope this sentence is of some comfort to the family as they move forward.”
"Cold and calculated" murderer
On Wednesday (March 20) a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court found Luke D'Wit guilty of Stephen and Carol Baxter's murders.
Speaking outside of court on Wednesday, Detective Superintendent Rob Kirby from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate detailed how the download and analysis of D'Wit's digital devices "was one of the most complex we have seen."
Dt Supt Rob Kirby also detailed how the investigation was "unique" with many teams across the force enlisted to work together to bring Luke D'Wit to justice.
Investigation's found that D'Wit had made more than 20 personas through which he would communicate with Carol, including a doctor, who's fictitious help and direction of medical treatment led to a deterioration of Carol's health.
A statement from the couple's son, Harry Baxter, said that his parent's murderer had made them all "dolls in his dollhouse victim to his manipulation".
He went on to say how D'Wit "completely destroyed everything" the family " held close to our hearts and every memory and future dream" they could have shared.
Stephen and Carol's daughter, Ellie Baxter also released a statement, and spoke of how her mum lost her freedom, as well as her sadness at her dad not being able to meet her new baby, which he was excited for.
Det Supt Kirby described Luke D'Wit's crimes as "cold and calculated acts of murder" and that in all of his years of 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."
Det Supt Kirby ended his statement on Wednesday by saying he hopes the family can get some comfort from the fact "the man responsible is now where he should be."