The man Chloe Bashford affectionately called her “stepdad” killed her and her husband Josh in their home after helping out with the morning school run. After waiting more than two years for the case to go to trial, their families have now seen Derek Martin found guilty of murder despite his attempts to claim diminished responsibility.
“It was hell,” Billy Bashford said after his brother’s killer was finally convicted Friday. “It’s been weighing on my shoulders for a long time.
“It affected the relationships in my life, my work, my family life.”
Derek Martin’s murder trial was adjourned five times before it opened in early October, meaning it has been more than two years since he murdered Chloe and Josh Bashford at their home in Newhaven, East Sussex.
Josh’s mother, Sharon Bashford, said: “We’ve had to wait since the killing to just try to bring some normality into our lives, to stop the tears and all this pain and upset.”
She described the repeated process of preparing for the trial as “excruciating”.
“You prepare for it and suddenly, at the last minute, everything changes,” she said.
“The cases are being dropped because the defense keeps asking for another psychiatric report because Derek Martin changed his plan, evidence of what he actually did at the crime scene.
“For me, it’s because of Derek and because he’s in control. He’s in control of the court. He’s in control of us. He’s in control of everybody. And he’s laughing.”
Derek Martin, from Brighton, East Sussex, has denied murder [Eddie Mitchell]
Her anger is shared by Chloe’s mother, Elaine Sturges, who was once married to Martin but divorced him years ago.
She said her ex-husband “lied” to the court when his legal team said he could not be held fully responsible for his actions due to his history of depression.
That’s what he admitted to murder, but denied murder.
Diminished responsibility is a partial defense to manslaughter.
If the defendant successfully proves that he suffered from a mental disorder, he will be convicted of involuntary manslaughter and given a lighter sentence.
Ms Sturges said: “He always told us, ‘I know how to game the system. I know exactly what to say. I know exactly how to act.”
“And this… it got him. It wasn’t diminished responsibility and it wasn’t murder. It was murder, cold-blooded murder, because he didn’t agree.
Chloe’s father Jason Godden added: “He’s playing the system just to get a lesser sentence.”
Jurors heard how Martin, 67, had developed a close friendship with 30-year-old Chloe in recent years.
He visited the house she shared with Josh almost every day and helped her with the school run, cleaning and decorating.
in 2023 June 9 Martin dropped the youngest children off at school and nursery before taking Chloe out for breakfast.
The court heard how the pair had argued about repaying money they had previously lent her when they returned to her home.
It was there that Martin attacked her with a hammer, stabbed her and killed her.
Minutes later he also stabbed and strangled Josh, 33, when he returned from work.
Relatives of Josh and Chloe said they were “great” parents who would “do anything” for their children, who were aged between four and 15 at the time of their deaths.
After the killings, Martin, from Brighton, tried to hide what he had done from the children.
Sharon and Andrew Bashford, Josh’s parents, said seeing Martin’s trial canceled five times was unbearable. [BBC]
He cleaned the house, took them out for drinks after school and then took them to McDonalds for dinner.
Andrew Bashford, Josh’s dad, said: “He took the doorknobs off the door where the bodies were. He took the Ring doorbell off the front door.
“He drove their car to the side of the road in Newhaven. Then he went and got the kids, texted the older ones not to come home, to meet me in Costa.
“It’s amazing how someone who can claim diminished responsibility can think so clearly.
Sharon Bashford added: “The fact that he changed clothes, the fact that he hid their phones, everything, it was all structured.”
Martin dropped the children off at Elaine’s house before going to Brighton police station.
DCI Kimball Edey, a senior investigating officer from Surrey and Sussex Police’s Major Crime Squad, said he believed Martin “must have had enough forethought” to carry out the two attacks.
He said while there was no dispute over whether Martin should be prosecuted for the murders, the murder-murder debate was complicated.
Five different psychiatrists testified in court.
DCI Edey said: “This was described by a forensic consultant psychiatrist who considered Derek Martin to be the most complex case he had ever come across and one that had given him a lot of thought and consideration in reaching that conclusion.
Martin tried to explain his violent attack over a dispute over money Chloe owed him, telling police he felt “used” and “lost it”.
DCI Edey added: “My impression of Chloe is that she was trying to do the best she could for her children. She was accepting help from someone who had an effective paternal relationship with her and he was offering help.”
“The relationship was very two-way. There’s a lot of evidence of that. Chloe often thanked Derek for his help. She took him out to eat.
“She cooked for him and offered him companionship and companionship.
“Whatever made Derek Martin act the way he did on June 9, 2023, I don’t think it was about money.
Martin will be sentenced on November 6.