U.K. man gets 37 years for fatally poisoning couple with fentanyl, rewriting their will

U.K. man gets 37 years for fatally poisoning couple with fentanyl, rewriting their will

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A British man has been sentenced to 37 years in prison after poisoning a husband and wife with fentanyl and reworking their will to seize control of their business.

The sentence for Luke D'Wit is "among the most significant sentences ever secured" after an investigation by Essex Police Department officers, the department said in a news release.

D'Wit, 34, first met Carol Baxter in 2014, when they were introduced by a mutual friend. D'Wit then began working as an IT consultant for the Baxters' business, which sold specialty curved bathmats.

Over nearly 10 years, D'Wit created "more than 20 personas" which he used to communicate with Carol Baxter and her daughter Ellie, the police news release said. One of those fake personas was as a doctor who was experienced in dealing with Hashimoto's disease, an autoimmune disease that Baxter had been diagnosed with.

Posing as Andrea Bowden, D'Wit made medical suggestions that Carol Baxter followed. These health directions "led to a continued deterioration in her health," the news release said. D'Wit also posed as fictitious patients of the made-up doctor and even sent voice memos where he affected a female voice to convince Carol Baxter he was a woman named Jenny. These interactions "manipulated and controlled Carol Baxter in the two years before her death" and and allowed D'Wit to exert the "ultimate form of control," said Lord Justice Lavender, the presiding judge on the case.

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