A convicted assassin who poisoned a married couple with fentanyl could have killed his personal father and averted detection, police concern.
Luke D’Wit, 34, was jailed in March for all times with a minimal of 37 years after he used the opioid painkiller to fatally poison Stephen and Carol Baxter in West Mersea, Essex.
However in a bombshell replace, detectives at the moment are reviewing whether or not the assassin was accountable for the demise of his father, Vernon, who had been prescribed fentanyl earlier than he was discovered slumped in a chair on the household dwelling in 2021.
Essex Police stated officers ‘is not going to hesitate to behave’ if they arrive throughout recent proof, the BBC reviews.
Bodycam footage from April 9, 2023 of Luke D’Wit offering statements to police in Mersea
D’Wit befriended and labored for Stephen Baxter, 61, and his 64-year-old spouse Carol (pictured) earlier than killing them
Luke D’Wit (pictured), 34, was jailed in March for all times with a minimal of 37 years
Detectives are additionally stated to be investigating the demise of D’Wit’s grandfather as a part of their assessment.
MailOnline has contacted Essex Police for remark.
Det Supt Rob Kirby beforehand informed the BBC he had ‘completely little question’ D’Wit would have carried out extra refined murders had he not been locked up.
He additionally couldn’t rule out whether or not the assassin had focused different victims earlier than he was convicted.
Det Supt Kirby stated D’Wit was ‘one of the vital harmful males’ he had handled in his profession.
D’Wit’s father was discovered lifeless in a chair at dwelling in West Mersea in 2021.
Married couple Mr Baxter, 61, and Mrs Baxter, 64, have been additionally found of their armchairs – by their daughter Ellie – at their dwelling in West Mersea on Easter Sunday 2023.
Chelmsford Crown Court docket heard how D’Wit had extracted the painkiller from patches initially prescribed to his father and retained the drug ‘in abundance’.
Police discovered a haul of the opioid painkiller in a backpack on the dwelling D’Wit shared together with his mom in Churchfields, West Mersea.
‘As much as the conviction and sentence of Luke D’Wit, our decided focus has been securing justice in relation to the murders of Carol and Stephen,’ the Essex police spokesman stated.
‘As with every investigation of this magnitude, every part we’ve uncovered is being reviewed and will something counsel this has been the case we is not going to hesitate to behave.’
Stephen Baxter, 61, and his 64-year-old spouse Carol (pictured) have been discovered lifeless at their dwelling
The house of the millionaire tycoon husband and spouse in Essex the place their our bodies have been discovered
An undated photograph issued by Essex Police of officers on the dwelling on Mersea Island in Essex
D’Wit befriended and labored for the Baxters earlier than altering their will to make him a director of their bathe mat agency.
He then created a sequence of faux on-line personas to govern them earlier than he killed them.
He had pretended to be a health care provider from Florida and members of a faux help group for the thyroid situation Hashimoto’s, which Mrs Baxter suffered from.
D’Wit denied their murders however was discovered responsible by unanimous verdicts at Chelmsford Crown Court docket on March 22 following a trial that lasted greater than a month.
He was sentenced to life with a minimal of 37 years by decide Mr Justice Nicholas Lavender, who stated D’Wit ‘ended their lives and introduced grief and distress to the lives of others’.
Mr Justice Lavender didn’t settle for the prosecution’s assertion that D’Wit’s behaviour was sadistic, as a result of his victims have been sedated once they died.
However he added: ‘I think about it was attainable that what motivated you was the need to exert management on others… deciding whether or not somebody lives or dies is the last word type of management.’
A seize from an undated video issued by Essex Police from reserving in footage of Luke D’Wit
A seize of Ring doorbell footage from April 7, 2023 displaying D’Wit leaving the house in Mersea
Ellie Baxter, the daughter of Stephen and Carol Baxter, leaves Chelmsford Crown Court docket in March
The decide additionally informed D’Wit: ‘It is distinctly attainable what motivated you was a need to regulate others.’
The defendant, who wore a patterned blue short-sleeved shirt, appeared to indicate no response as he sat in a wheelchair within the safe dock.
The decide stated he was positive that D’Wit ‘extracted the fentanyl from patches which had been initially prescribed to your father, who died in 2021’.
He stated these have been crushed right into a powder and given to the Baxters in a drink, which they took as they trusted D’Wit to organize ‘supposed well being drinks’.
Det Sup Kirby stated exterior court docket: ‘In all my years of policing, Luke D’Wit is among the most harmful males I’ve ever come throughout.
‘I’ve completely little question in my thoughts had he not been caught he would have gone on to kill additional individuals.’
He stated that D’Wit ‘disgracefully … based mostly his defence on collusion between himself and Stephen Baxter’.
‘Stephen is tragically not right here to defend himself however from every part we knew about him we all know this might by no means have been the case,’ stated Mr Kirby, of the Kent and Essex Critical Crime Directorate.
‘Fortunately, right now the jury have seen via D’Wit’s fantasies and delivered responsible verdicts.’
