Daughter’s harrowing 999 call after she FOUND millionaire shower tycoon and his wife ‘murdered by IT worker with fentanyl’

A daughter’s harrowing 999 call, made after she found her millionaire shower tycoon father and mother allegedly murdered by an IT worker, has been played in court. 

What Happened

Ellie Baxter found her parents Stephen, 61, and Carol Baxter, 64, unresponsive on Sunday, April 9 last year and called 999 while screaming and weeping. She told a call handler: ‘I need an ambulance right now.’

Ellie said ‘I need to get inside’ and was heard banging on the glass of the conservatory, swearing and saying that she thought her parents were dead.

Next to her was Luke D’Wit, 34, who was employed as an IT worker by entrepreneurs Stephen and Carol and claimed he was ‘like an adopted son to them’, the court heard.

Two days earlier D’Wit was seen leaving the couple’s luxury home on Mersea Island, Essex, at 7.55pm on Friday, April 7, on Ring doorbell camera footage played out in court. This makes him the last person to see them alive, according to prosecutors. 

Cause of Death

The Baxters’ deaths were treated as unexpected but not suspicious at first, but a post mortem later revealed they had ingested large amounts of fentanyl.

Police also discovered D’Wit had created a will on his phone on April 10 at 6.54am – a day after the couple were found dead, Chelmsford Crown Court was told.

When Ellie Found Her Parents Dead

D’Wit lived nearby and was quickly on the scene when Ellie found her parents, before making a dramatic 999 call to police as Ellie is heard crying hysterically in the background. 

He told the call handler that he was ‘a friend’ and added: ‘We’ve just turned up at the house and we haven’t really heard from anyone for a day and half.

‘So we came round and their daughter got here first and they came round the back, looked in the conservatory window and they were sitting in their arm chairs not moving. We smashed the window to get in but they’re both stiff and cold.’   

During the 999 call, Ellie was heard saying: ‘We need an ambulance right now, she’s been poisoned. 

‘My mum’s not very well. They’re poisoned, they’re dead. They’re frozen. They’re so cold.’

When D’Wit took over and was asked if the couple were beyond help, he replied: ‘Yeah. There’s some blood on her mouth. She has yellow, blue fingers.’

The defendant appeared to be ‘very calm and plausible’ during the call, the prosecutor said.

A police interview with D’Wit filmed shortly after the couple’s bodies were discovered was also shown to the jury. 

In the bodycam footage, the 34-year-old rubs his left forearm with his right hand as he says he left their home just before 8pm. 

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Statement From Witness

He said: ‘Me and Stephen had been talking about work and the business because Carol can’t work anymore. She hasn’t been able to do anything. 

‘We were having a chat but he didn’t really seem up to it. I was going to come back tomorrow and use the gym. I am used to checking on them and I always pop in but they wanted this weekend to…

‘Steve’s mum Irene, who lives in London, was worried because he wasn’t answering her calls either which again isn’t unusual because they want time away.

‘But again, because we were concerned we drove past here at 7.30pm last night but because we saw the blinds were down and the lights were on, we thought they are doing what they want. They’ve got their weekend. The lights are on – all cool.’ 

D’Wit told the officer he was called to the house after the couple’s daughter found them unresponsive in their chairs. 

‘I literally ran from home to here and just as I got here they smashed the back doors in.’

The Last Time They Were Seen Alive

He added he last saw them alive on Friday – two days before the interview – and explained that he had gone into the house and saw the couple’s bodies. 

D’Wit told the officer he was asked by a paramedic to get all of Carol’s medications ‘because she has got a lot’.

‘She has had various things over the years for various operations she has had. So I went upstairs and got anything that I thought looked like a tablet and put it in a brown box for the paramedic.’

He then explained that ‘sometimes she forgets to take’ her medications because she has to take so many.