Double murderer 'played the system' families say

After killing Chloe and Josh Bashford in two separate violent attacks at their home, Derek Martin pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility.

The man Chloe Bashford affectionately called her 'stepdad' admitted killing her and her husband Joshua in their home in two separate violent attacks. Derek Martin denied murder, claiming diminished responsibility due to his depression but was found guilty by a unanimous jury. It has taken almost two and a half years for their family – his own family - to get the justice they wanted.

Elaine Sturges, Chloe's mum, was married to Martin many years earlier.

She said her ex-husband was "lying" about not being responsible for his actions when he killed Chloe and Josh.

She said: "He always told us 'I know how to play the system. I know exactly what to say. I know exactly how to act'.

"And this one... it's caught him out.

"It wasn't diminished responsibility and it wasn't manslaughter, it was murder.

"Cold-blooded murder because he didn't get his own way, spoilt brat.

"Chloe told him to go. If he'd left it a couple of days, they would have made it up."

Chloe's father, Jason Godden, agreed saying: "He's playing the system just to try and get a lower sentence."

Derek Martin, from Brighton, East Sussex, denied murder

In recent years, Derek Martin, 67, had formed a close friendship with Chloe, 30.

He visited the home she shared with Josh almost daily and helped her with the school run, cleaning and decorating.

But on 9 June 2023, after dropping the youngest children at school and nursery and taking Chloe for breakfast, he took her to her home in Newhaven, East Sussex, where he violently attacked her with a hammer, stabbed her, and killed her.

A few minutes later, he also stabbed and strangled Josh to death when he arrived back from work.

Josh and Chloe's relatives say they were "brilliant", loving parents who "would do anything" for their children, who were aged between 4 and 15 when they died.

Diminished responsibility is a partial defence to murder. If a defendant successfully proves they were experiencing an abnormality of mental functioning, they will be convicted of manslaughter instead of murder, resulting in a less severe sentence.

After the killings, Martin, from Brighton, attempted to hide what he had done from the children.

He cleared up the house, took them for drinks after school and then drove them to McDonalds for dinner.

Andrew Bashford, Josh's dad, said: "He took the door handles off of the doors where the bodies were. He removed the Ring doorbell from the front door.

"He drove their car to a road in Newhaven. Then he went and picked the children up, texted the older ones to say don't come home, meet me at Costa.

"It's amazing how someone that can plead diminished responsibility then can think as clearly as that."

Sharon Bashford, Josh's mum, said: "The fact that he changed his clothes, the fact that he hid their phones, everything, it was all structured."

Martin dropped the children outside Elaine's house before going to hand himself in at Brighton Police Station.

'He's controlling everybody'

Derek Martin's murder trial has been delayed five times, which the Bashfords said has been "cruel" and left them living with anger for more than two years.

Sharon said: "You build yourself up for it and then suddenly at the very last minute, things change.

"Things are cancelled because the defence are continually asking for another psychiatric report, because Derek Martin has changed his plan, his evidence of what he actually did at the crime scene.

"To me it's because of Derek and it's because he has control.

"He is controlling the trial. He is controlling us. He is controlling everybody. And he's laughing."

Sharon, Andrew and Josh's brothers and sister say waiting for answers has left them unable to move forward with their lives.

Sharon and Andrew Bashford, Josh's parents, said having Martin's trial cancelled five times has been unbearable.

Josh's brother Billy Bashford said: "It's been hell. It's been a weight on my shoulders, you know, for so long. It's affected relationships in my life, my work life, my family life.

Sharon added: "It's got to stop, this length of time. We have had to wait from the time of the killings just to try and get a bit of normality in our lives, to stop the flow of tears, to stop all this anguish, the upset.

"It has just been unbearable. We have suffered.

"I don't think any family should ever be put in this position ever, ever again."

'Most complicated case'

Surrey and Sussex Police Major Crime Team senior investigating officer DCI Kimball Edey said he believed Martin "would have had to have sufficient thought" to carry out the two attacks.

He said while there was no dispute over whether Martin should be prosecuted for the killings, the debate between murder and manslaughter had been complex.

Five different psychiatrists gave evidence at the trial.

DCI Edey said: "This has been described by a forensic consultant psychiatrist who has seen Derek Martin as the most complicated case that he has ever come across and a case that's caused him a great deal of thought and consideration in reaching the conclusion that he reached."

Derek Martin attempted to explain his violent attack as the result of an argument about money that Chloe owed to him, telling police he felt "used" and he "lost it".

DCI Edey added: "My own impression of Chloe is that she was somebody trying to do her absolute best for her children. She was accepting help from somebody who was effectively putting himself into a paternal type relationship with her and he was offering help.

"The relationship was very much two-way. There's lots of evidence for that. Chloe often thanked Derek for his help. She took him out for meals.

"She cooked meals for him and offered him friendship and companionship. Whatever caused Derek Martin to act in the way that he did on the 9 June 2023, my own view is that it was not about money."