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.”
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.