A BID to have the sentence of a double murderer who poisoned a married couple extended has been rejected.
Records published by the Attorney General’s Office reveal an application was made to decide if double murderer Luke D’Wit, who was jailed for 37 years for murdering Stephen and Carol Baxter on Mersea Island, received an unduly lenient sentence.
But the case was not referred to the Court of Appeal after being reviewed by the UK's chief legal adviser.
Anyone can ask for certain crown court sentences to be reviewed under the unduly lenient sentence scheme.
The review is conducted by the attorney general or solicitor general who can ask the Court of Appeal to review the sentence if they consider it to be unduly lenient.
It is not known who referred D’Wit’s sentence to the Attorney General’s Office.
Who is Luke D'Wit?
D’Wit, of Churchfield, West Mersea, was convicted at Chelmsford Crown Court in March for murdering Mr and Mrs Baxter.
Mr Baxter, 64, and Mrs Baxter, 61, died at their home in Victory Road, West Mersea, in April last year after D’Wit poisoned their drinks with the lethal painkiller fentanyl.
More than a dozen witnesses were cross-examined during a six-week murder trial led by Judge Sir Nicholas Lavender earlier this year.
During the trial, D’Wit claimed to not know about a fake will – created on his phone the day after he poisoned his victims – which handed him control of Mrs Baxter’s business.
He also claimed fake personas he fabricated to communicate with Mrs Baxter had been created at her husband’s request.
On the first day of the trial, the court was told police officers found packets of fentanyl in an Adidas bag which was found after he was arrested in July last year.
Tracy Ayling, prosecuting, said four fentanyl patches were missing from the bag and that four patches from the same supplier were found at the Baxters’ home.
Later in the trial, Adam Davis KC, defending, told the jury D’Wit had been described as “decent, honest, reliable, and trustworthy”.
He also implied D’Wit had shown little interest in Mr and Mrs Baxters’ money.
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