Brighton man did school run then killed couple, jury hears

A man killed his stepdaughter and her husband in their own home hours after helping drop their children at school, a jury has been told.

Derek Martin, 67, from Brighton, is accused of murdering Josh Bashford, 33, and his 30-year-old wife, Chloe, in Newhaven, East Sussex, on 9 June, 2023.

Mr Martin has admitted killing the couple but denies their murder, claiming diminished responsibility.

Earlier, jurors at Brighton Law Courts heard Mr Martin hit Mrs Bashford over the head with a hammer at about 12:15 BST before getting a kitchen knife and stabbing her eight times.

He then allegedly waited for Mr Bashford to come home a few minutes later and attacked him just after he entered the house.

Prosecutor Julian Evans KC told the court that “as with Chloe, the attack on [Mr Bashford] was very violent”.

Mr Martin chased Mr Bashford upstairs while holding a knife, according to the prosecutor, then “stabbed him four times to the front of the body”.

He then strangled Mr Bashford, the court heard.

In the aftermath of the two killings, Mr Martin changed his clothes, removed door handles to bedrooms where police found the couple’s bodies, and removed a doorbell camera, the prosecutor said.

The jury was told Mr Martin knew the couple and their four children very well and helped them on a regular basis.

The court heard earlier that day Mr Martin had taken the couple’s children to school with their mother then bought her breakfast, while Mr Bashford came home early to look at a potential new car with the accused.

Mr Martin later unlocked Mrs Bashford’s phone to read messages from her daughter about a sleepover, the court heard, then replied using his own phone that “Mum said not today”.

The accused met all four children at Costa and told them their parents had had a “big row”, before throwing Mrs Bashford’s phone into bushes, lawyers said.

According to prosecutor, Mr Martin took the children to a hotel, then to McDonald’s, then dropped them at the home of his ex-wife, who is their grandmother.

Mr Evans KC said the accused later messaged the grandmother, saying “I can’t believe what I’ve done”, that “everyone hates me anyway, especially the boys,” and that she should not take the children home.

Later that evening, the court heard, he went to Brighton Police station and said: “I’ve murdered two people.”

The jury was told Mr Martin informed police he felt he was being “used” all the time and had got himself into debt. He said he “just flipped”.

In a police interview, the court was told, he was asked what he had been thinking and said: “I don’t know, I’d just had enough, it’s just constant, ‘money, money, money’, ‘go out, go out, go out’.”

Mr Evans KC said there was “no dispute at all that Derek Martin attacked and killed Chloe and Joshua Bashford at their home”.

“What is at issue is his state of mind at the time,” he said.