Former delivery driver Derek Martin stabbed to death a woman he regarded as his “stepdaughter” and a short while later stabbed and strangled her husband, a jury was told.
Martin, 67, admits that he killed Chloe and Joshua Bashford at their home, in Lewes Road, Newhaven, in June 2023 but he denies murder, claiming diminished responsibility.
Julian Evans, prosecuting, told the jury at Brighton Crown Court that Martin, who was then 64, initially attacked 30-year-old Chloe with a hammer before fetching a knife from her kitchen and stabbing her to death.
Martin then waited for Josh Bashford, 33, to return a short while later before attacking him with a knife and then strangling him with a ligature, either a rope or a belt, the court was told.
A few hours later, Martin met the children at a coffee shop in Peacehaven and took them for a meal at McDonald’s.
Afterwards, he dropped them off with his ex-wife, their grandmother, before going to the police station in John Street, Brighton, to turn himself in.
Mr Evans said: “At the police station, Derek Martin walked up to a member of police staff. He said: ‘I’ve murdered two people.’
“In the interview, Derek Martin admitted that he had killed Chloe and Josh … He said that Chloe had been talking about money, shopping and cars.
“She had asked him to clean the windows inside the house. He had brought his bucket into the house from outside and there was a hammer inside the bucket.
“He said that he was in the hallway cleaning the window by the front door … He said that he felt that he was getting ‘used’ all of the time.
“He could not do enough for people and he had got into a lot of debt himself as well.
“He said that he ‘just lost it’ and that he ‘just flipped’. He hit Chloe on the head with the hammer. He did not know what had happened.
“At about 12.16pm, Derek Martin attacked Chloe with a hammer. He hit her with the hammer on the top of her head.
“Then he went to the kitchen to retrieve a large knife and having done so, he then repeatedly stabbed Chloe with that knife, causing severe injuries from which she died.
“At about 12.20pm, Josh arrived home. Just after he entered the house, Derek Martin attacked him.
“In the course of the attack, Derek Martin repeatedly stabbed Josh with a knife and compressed his neck with a ligature, causing injuries from which he too died.”
Mr Evans said that Martin then removed the handles from the bedroom doors the bodies were lying in, changed his clothes and took the ring doorbell camera off the front door.
During the afternoon, he met the couple’s four children at Costa Coffee, in South Coast Road, Peacehaven.
Mr Evans said: “After buying the children some drinks, he drove them all to the Sainsbury’s store in Newhaven.
“Mr Martin got out of the car and then he walked to a roundabout at the entrance to the car park and threw Chloe’s mobile telephone into some bushes.”
After he had driven the children to the home of their grandmother, Elaine Sturges, in Brighton, Martin sent her a text message, the court was told.
It said: “Elaine I’m so sorry. I can’t believe what I’ve done. I know everyone hates me anyway, especially the boys. I hate myself anyway and please, please look after the children really well.
“I’m just about to walk into the police station then that’s my days over and good job too. I know it’s going to mean nothing but I’m so sorry. Don’t take the children home.”
Mr Evans said that witnesses had said that Martin had a bad temper and that “he could switch up easily and would not hold back if he was angry”.
The judge, Dame Justine Thornton, known as Mrs Justice Thornton, told the jury: “It is not in dispute that Derek Martin killed Chloe Bashford and Joshua Bashford. Nor is it in dispute that he intended to kill them.”
He claimed that he had “diminished responsibility” because of an abnormality of his mental function at the time of the attack.
The judge said that, for Martin’s defence to succeed, he would have to prove on the balance of probabilities that it was more likely than not that he had suffered an abnormality of mind.
She said that he would have to prove that he was suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning that arose from a recognised medical condition.
The abnormality of mind would have to explain his acts and omissions and would have had to have substantially impaired his ability to
- understand the nature of his conduct
- to form a rational judgment
- to exercise self-control
The jury was told that they would hear evidence from five experts, not all of whom agreed. Three had been instructed by the prosecution and two by the defence but all were independent.
All said that Martin had a depressive disorder at the time of the attacks but there was disagreement about how severe this was and whether it reduced his culpability for the killings.
The jury was sworn in and told that the trial was expected to last for three weeks and the prosecution opened its case at Brighton Crown Court this morning (Monday 6 October).
The trial continues.
Cruel, to take the Parents away like that from 4 Innocent Children, and to be so calm and go about everything normal till he handed himself in is Heartbreaking for both Families.
Such a loss for all.