A Green candidate said a man convicted of two murders had a ‘good sense of right and wrong’ at the trial, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Heidi Cornish, who is standing for Colchester City Council, was a character witness for Luke D’Wit, 36, as he faced charges of murdering Carol and Stephen Baxter in Essex in 2023.
D’Wit was subsequently convicted of killing the couple by slipping a lethal dose of fentanyl into their drinks, and was jailed for a minimum of 37 years.
The court found the IT worker had poisoned Mrs Baxter, 64, and her husband, 61, and then planted a fake will in their house that made him a director in the couple’s shower mat firm.
D’Wit had gone to elaborate lengths to ingratiate himself with the Baxters, accompanying Mrs Baxter on walks and making her healthy smoothies at the couple’s home in West Mersea.
He even posed online as a doctor in the US, offering Mrs Baxter medical advice and support with a health condition, all the while lacing her drinks with drugs that were making her more unwell.
But Ms Cornish, running for the Greens in Colchester’s Mersea and Pyefleet ward, told jurors at Chelmsford Crown Court that D’Wit ‘loves to be involved where people need him’ and ‘has a good sense of right and wrong’.
She said she had known D’Wit for about 14 years, and recalled him being involved with Mersea Carnival Association and helping out at a soup kitchen.
The Baxters’ daughter, Ellie, told the Daily Mail yesterday that she was surprised to learn that Ms Cornish was a candidate in her late parents’ town.
She said: ‘I don’t know her personally, but I was shocked to see that, I must say.’
One of the murdered couple’s neighbours said of Ms Cornish: ‘I could not trust her judgment now. It was her opinion and she got it wrong.
‘You would think someone who wants to be a politician, someone who wants to take responsibility for us individuals, would know what they were talking about.
‘You do not go off spouting things if you are not 100 per cent certain.’
Stanley Burton, 81, who lives nearby, agreed that Ms Cornish had displayed a ‘lack of judgment’ in providing a character reference.
He said: ‘Would-be politicians should look more in depth into anything and should scrutinise things.’
Months after D’Wit’s trial, Ms Cornish appeared to endorse a Covid lab leak conspiracy theory on Facebook, posting: ‘It was clear from day one that the wet market with selling bats as food was just the scapegoat…’
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘The Greens keep attracting candidates who raise serious questions about their judgment. Colchester residents deserve better than a candidate whose character judgment is this badly wrong.’
The Green Party confirmed that Ms Cornish gave a character witness statement for D’Wit.
