A man who stabbed his stepdaughter and her husband to death will likely die in prison after being found guilty of their murders.
Derek Martin, 67, admitted the manslaughter of parents-of-four Josh, 33, and Chloe Bashford, 30, who were found dead at their home in Newhaven on June 9, 2023.
This afternoon, he was been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum terms of 29 years.
The court previously heard how he grabbed a hammer to attack his stepdaughter before stabbing her as she lay helplessly.
Martin then waited for her husband, Josh, to return home at lunch before chasing him upstairs and stabbing him four times before strangling him to death with a belt.
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The grandfather attempted to clear up the scene before calmly picking up their four children from school, taking them to McDonald’s, dropping them at their grandmother’s and turning himself into the police.
Although he admitted killing the couple, he claimed he had been suffering from a serious mental disorder at the time and denied murdering them.
The court heard Martin had previously been married to Chloe’s mother, Elaine Sturges, but they had separated and divorced before Chloe was born.
Brooklyn Bashford, the eldest son of the couple, told the court his mother and father were the ‘foundation and the glue’ that held him and his siblings together.
In his victim statement, the 18-year-old said: ‘Not a single day that goes by I don’t think about them,” he said.
‘I have to imagine the awful things that happened to them.’
Speaking to Martin directly, he added: ‘I will never forgive him.’
After a spell in prison for burglary, Martin had apparently turned over a new leaf and had formed a close bond with the family again.
He liked to help out with chores around Chloe’s home in Newhaven, East Sussex, even 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 Jr, five, and Mila, seven, at school before taking Chloe for breakfast at a carvery near her home.
The jury heard that in the months leading up to the killings Martin, who had a history of depression and suicide attempts, had stopped taking his medication and had not been sleeping.
He had been staying up and only getting around one or two hours sleep a night before going round to help at his stepdaughter’s home.
Martin admitted killing the couple but denied murder saying he was suffering from a psychiatric condition at the time.
Three psychiatric experts said Martin may have been suffering fro a depressive disorder and concluded that the partial defence of diminished responsibility could be available in that it contributed to an ‘abnormality of mental functioning’.
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