Fentanyl double-murder suspect 'gave murder victim medication and gross herbal remedies'
A man accused of murdering a wealthy married couple by poisoning them with the drug fentanyl visited the victims' home every day and administered medication in the mornings and evenings, a court has heard.
Ellie Baxter, 22, said her mother had become reliant on Luke D'Wit, 34, because of her poor health and was made to drink "gross" herbal remedies to help.
D'Wit is accused of murdering Stephen, 61, and Carol Baxter, 64, whom he had worked for, with the opioid painkiller, before rewriting their will.
Ms Baxter found her parents dead in their armchairs on Easter Sunday last year, at their home in West Mersea, Essex.
On Sunday 9 April, D'Wit was filmed telling officers how he had become concerned for the couple after not hearing from them for several days. In the background, the couple's daughter can be heard crying in distress.
Luke D'Wit was initially treated as a witness rather than a suspect - watch officers speak to him shortly after discovering the bodies of Carol and Stephen Baxter
Giving evidence at Chelmsford Crown Court, Ms Baxter described how her parents “got on” with D’Wit but said they all believed he was “weird, but nerdy weird”.
He had initially been brought into her parents’ shower mat business in about 2012 or 2013 to “help build the website” because of his experience with technology, before eventually coming round to their house “every day”.
He knew the security key pin to the gate of their house, as well as the location of a key safe, Ms Baxter said.
As time went by, D’Wit would usually give her mother, who suffered from the autoimmune disorder Hashimoto’s, her medication in both the mornings and in the evenings, jurors heard.
Ms Baxter, who “got on pretty well with D’Wit”, told the court he made her mother drink herbal remedies in “horrible smoothies” which were supposed to help with her illness.
“They tasted gross … I think mum just got a bit desperate”, she said.
Listen to the audio of the 999 recording played in court. Some viewers may find this content distressing
Prosecutors allege D’Wit installed a “mobile security surveillance application” on his phone allowing him to monitor a camera from another device.
Two days before Mr Baxter and his wife were discovered dead by their daughter, doorbell camera footage captured D’Wit walking towards the Baxters’ address looking at a phone, it is alleged.
D'Wit denies murdering the couple.
The trial continues.
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