West Mersea man poisoned couple with fentanyl and rewrote will - court told

A man poisoned a married couple with the opioid painkiller fentanyl and rewrote their will, a murder trial has heard.

Stephen Baxter, 61, and Carol Baxter, 64, were discovered unresponsive at their seaside home in Essex on 9 April.

Luke D'Wit, who lived nearby, worked for and befriended the couple, claiming to be like an "adopted son", prosecutors said.

Mr D'Wit, 34, denies murder, a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court were told.

Tracy Ayling KC, prosecuting, said the defendant had "rewritten their will and stolen Carol's jewellery, among many other things, to benefit from their deaths".

The prosecutor said he created a will on his phone early in the morning of 10 April, the day after the couple were found dead by their daughter.

She told the jury Mr D'Wit was the "beneficiary of a very odd will" which stated "our dear friend Luke D'Wit is to be the director and person with significant control" for Cazsplash, the company owned by the couple.

Ellie Baxter, arrived at the couple's home in Victory Road, West Mersea, on Mersea Island, on Easter Sunday and saw her parents dead inside the conservatory, the prosecution said.

Ms Ayling said: "There was no obvious reason for their deaths but as their bodies were examined it was revealed they had been poisoned by a drug called fentanyl."

There was no suicide note and the "whole area including the kitchen was very neat and tidy", she added.

Toxicology reports later showed fentanyl had been a factor in both deaths.

"It's difficult to imagine any scenario when two individuals who are not prescribed fentanyl could accidentally contaminate their food with this drug," said Ms Ayling.

In a 999 call played to the court, Ms Baxter was heard screaming, crying and banging on the glass of the conservatory, swearing and saying that she thought they were dead.

Mr D'Wit, who lived near the couple in Churchfields, West Mersea, is later heard taking over the call, as Ms Baxter can be heard crying in the background.

He told the call handler he was "a friend".

The prosecutor said the defendant "was the last person to see them alive".

"D'Wit wasn't seen as a suspect but in fact provided statements to police as a witness," she said.

In an account to police, Mr D'Wit said he left Mr and Mrs Baxter's address at at 19:55 BST on 7 April and that Mrs Baxter was asleep and Mr Baxter was in the kitchen saying he would make some dinner.

She said he did leave at this time "but police were able to discover he left Carol and Stephen incapacitated at that time".

Ms Ayling said the defendant created false identities, including a solicitor, to convince family members of the Baxters that the will was real.

She said he had also created another false identity of a doctor from Florida and a "support group of false identities" who were sufferers of the same thyroid condition, Hashimoto's, as Mrs Baxter.

Recommendations were made through the false identities with "no clinical basis" to "manipulate Carol Baxter", Ms Ayling said.

The trial, expected to last six weeks, continues.

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