Detectives are reviewing whether an IT worker who was jailed for the fentanyl murders of a married couple may have also killed his own father and grandfather and avoided detection.

Luke D’Wit, 34, of Churchfields, West Mersea, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 37 years for the murders of Carol and Stephen Baxter when he was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court in March.

Mrs Baxter, 64, and her 61-year-old husband were found dead at their home in West Mersea in Essex by their daughter Ellie on Easter Sunday last year.

It was later discovered they had been poisoned with the powerful synthetic painkiller fentanyl.

Detectives are reportedly reviewing the deaths of D’Wit’s father and grandfather in case he killed them and avoided detection.

Vernon D’Wit was found dead in a chair at the family home in West Mersea in 2021.

In his sentencing remarks, judge Mr Justice Nicholas Lavender, said D’Wit “extracted… fentanyl from patches which had originally been prescribed for your father, who died in 2021, but which you retained in abundance”.

Murdered - Stephen and Carol Baxter 'had everything to live for' according to Chief Superintendent Rob Kirby (Image: PA)Murdered - Stephen and Carol Baxter 'had everything to live for' according to Chief Superintendent Rob Kirby (Image: Press Association)

An Essex Police spokesman said: “Up to the conviction and sentence of Luke D'Wit, our determined focus has been securing justice in relation to the murders of Carol and Stephen. 

“As with any investigation of this magnitude, everything we have uncovered is being reviewed and should anything suggest this has been the case we will not hesitate to act." 

Following a six-week murder trial, a jury found D’Wit guilty of both murders.

During the trial, he claimed to have no knowledge of a changed will, which was created on his phone the day following the Baxters’ deaths, which handed him control of the family’s shower mat business. 

He also claimed fake personas fabricated to communicate with Mrs Baxter had been created at the request of her husband. 

When he was cross-examined by the prosecution about the fentanyl patches which were found on D’Wit at the time of his arrest, he told the court they had been a prescription for his late grandfather and he had intended to get rid of them. 

D’Wit held on to the patches for two years after his grandfather’s passing.