In a chilling case that shocked the community, a man who brutally murdered his stepdaughter and her husband has been convicted. Derek Martin, aged 67, carried out the horrific attacks before proceeding with a startling display of calmness.
The violence erupted after a dispute over finances at the home of Chloe Bashford, 30. In a fit of rage, Martin savagely assaulted her with a hammer, striking her head multiple times. Not stopping there, he went to the kitchen, retrieved a knife, and inflicted eight stab wounds on her as she lay helpless on the floor.
Following this gruesome act, Martin awaited the arrival of 33-year-old Josh Bashford, Chloe’s husband. As Josh returned home for lunch, Martin ambushed him, relentlessly chasing him upstairs. He then stabbed Josh four times and strangled him with a belt, leaving a tragic scene of devastation in his wake.
In a disturbing twist, after attempting to clean up the evidence of his heinous actions, Martin collected the couple’s children from school. Putting on a façade of normalcy, he took them to McDonald’s for a meal before leaving them in the care of their grandmother.
Finally, Martin turned himself in to the authorities, completing a sequence of events that left a community grappling with the senseless violence inflicted by someone the victims knew and trusted.
He then took them for a meal at McDonald’s before dropping them off at their grandmother’s house and turning himself into the police.
Police body cam footage showed the moment he walked into Brighton police station and chillingly confessed: ‘I’ve killed two people.’
Today Martin of Moulsecoomb, Brighton was found guilty by a jury at Brighton Law Courts.
Pictured is Derek Martin, who was accused of murdering Chloe and her husband Josh, 33
The couple were murdered in their home by Derek Martin – who then took their children out to McDonald’s
The families of both victims gasped as the jury pronounced Martin guilty of both charges of murder.
Martin was impassive as the verdicts were delivered and showed no reaction or emotion.
He had denied murder but admitted manslaughter with diminished responsibility.
The 67-year-old will be sentenced in November.
The court heard Martin had previously been married to Mrs Bashford’s mother, Elaine Sturges, but they had separated and divorced before Mrs Bashford was born.
However after a spell in prison for burglary Martin had apparently turned over a new leaf and formed a close bond with the family again.
He was said to have enjoyed helping out with chores around Mrs Bashford’s home in Newhaven, East Sussex – carrying out DIY tasks and decorating.
Brighton Law Courts heard Martin had lent Chloe around £1,500 to help her and Josh buy a new car and to carry out home improvements.
She was supposed to be paying him back on a monthly basis but had fallen behind with payments.
On the morning of June 9 Martin dropped off the two youngest children, Josh Jnr, five, and Mila, seven, at school before taking Chloe for breakfast at a carvery near her home.
The jury heard the pair returned to the house and Martin began doing some DIY jobs around the house including cleaning some windows inside.
Police body cam footage showed the moment Martin walked into Brighton police station and chillingly confessed
The 67-year-old had a violent upbringing, the court previously heard
Martin had been sectioned under the mental health act and was said at court to have had a history of self harm and depression
As he was working he and Mrs Bashford got into an argument about the money she owed him with Martin shouting: ‘I want my f******g money’.
The court heard Mrs Bashford responsed: ‘Well don’t bother with us anymore. Don’t bother coming round anymore.’
Martin told police he ‘lost it’, grabbing a hammer from his tools and bludgeoning her on the head.
When she fell onto the floor he went to the kitchen, got a knife and proceeded to stab her eight times causing fatal injuries.
Martin knew her husband was due to return at lunch as he was supposed to be taking him to view a car which was for sale.
He lay in wait and as Mr Bashford entered the house he was waiting behind the front door with the knife.
The jury heard Mr Bashford shouted: ‘Where’s Chloe?’ before Martin chased him upstairs and into the marital bedroom where he stabbed him four times in the chest. He then grabbed a belt and then strangled him to death.
Martin picked up the two youngest children from school and arranged to meet the others at Costa Coffee in Newhaven.
He then took them to a McDonald’s restaurant and bought them a meal before loading them into the car and driving them eight miles to their grandmother’s house in Brighton.
It was previously heard that Mrs Bashford was attacked first with the hammer before then being stabbed by Martin. She is pictured here with her husband
He then sent Ms Sturges a text message saying: ‘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 x.’
Martin went to Brighton police station and told officers: ‘I’ve killed two people.’
The 67-year-old had a violent upbringing, the court previously heard.
He started stealing while he was still school aged and had been in and out of prison most of his adult life.
Martin had been sectioned under the mental health act and was said at court to have had a history of self harm and depression.
‘He is emotionally unstable, sometimes called borderline personality disorder,’ Consultant psychiatrist Dr Ian Cumming said.
The best description was deemed to be recurrent depressive disorder.
Martin told Broadmoor doctors he noticed a change in his mental state in the months before their deaths.
‘He reported feeling depressed, not sleeping, poor concentration, thoughts of wanting to die and stopping his medication.
Professor Nigel Blackwood, a psychiatric consultant, told the court ‘rage and resentment’ had driven Martin (pictured) to murder the married couple
‘He said he did not deserve to be better,’ Dr Cumming said.
Martin offered financial support and did jobs around the house and told doctors he was committing burglaries to help the family financially.
Dr Cumming said: ‘He began to have the negative cognition he was being abused by Chloe. He began to think of her as somebody who was using him. Something he said was in his head all the time.
‘I didn’t get the sense he was making up symptoms. He had reported a reasonably consistent subset of symptoms.
‘There is internal consistency in the accounts he has given,’ Dr Cumming said.
The attack on Mr and Mrs Bashford was an unplanned and impulsive attack in response to events of that day, Dr Cumming had insisted.
Dr Cumming said: ‘He felt he was being used. When she said don’t come around any more, it felt like he was being cut off. The anger led him to kill and attack her.
‘There was no sense of planning ahead. This seems to be what fuelled it.’
However Professor Nigel Blackwood, a psychiatric consultant, told the court ‘rage and resentment’ had driven Martin to murder the married couple.
He told the jury: ‘His state of rage when he is engaged in killing Chloe simply carries over into his assault of Mr Bashford. It’s not just a sudden assault in a brief moment of anger. It’s sustained.’
Prof Blackwood said: ‘His ability to understand his conduct or exercise self-control was not impaired’.
