Derek Martin: Man found guilty of murdering young Newhaven couple

Sussex Police said Derek Martin walked into Brighton Police Station on the evening of June, 9 2023 and told officers ‘I’ve killed two people’.

"He admitted causing the deaths of Chloe and Josh Bashford, but denied murder due to diminished responsibility resulting from a depressive disorder,” a Sussex Police spokesperson said.

"A jury found him guilty of two counts of murder on Friday, October 24 following a three-week trial at Lewes Crown Court, sitting at Brighton.”

On the day of the attack, Martin, who was known to the victims, went out for breakfast with Chloe. Later they returned together to the Bashford family home in Lewes Road, Newhaven, where Chloe and Josh lived with their four children.

"In a police interview, Martin confessed he had been cleaning a window at the property when he ‘just flipped’ over a row about money with Chloe,” the Sussex Police spokesperson added.

“He struck her over the head with a hammer then stabbed her to death.

“Martin said that Josh, 33, arrived home a short while later and saw him with a knife in his hand. Josh ran upstairs but was chased by Martin, who repeatedly stabbed him then strangled him to death.

“The 67-year-old, of Moulsecoomb Way, Brighton, then changed his clothes, picked up the couple’s four children from school, and took them to both Costa and McDonald’s in Newhaven.

“During this time, he discarded Chloe’s mobile phone in bushes of the nearby Sainsbury’s.

"He returned the children to their grandmother’s house in Brighton, then bought some beers from a shop in Whitehawk which he drank on the seafront.

“Shortly afterwards, he handed himself in at the police station. Officers attended the Bashford family home where they discovered the bodies of Chloe and Josh, and Martin was arrested.

“The court heard Martin and Chloe became close a couple of years ago. Martin had been known to Chloe as he was previously married to her mother, but they had divorced some years before she was born.

“While he was remanded in custody, Sussex Police issued a public appeal to help find Chloe’s mobile phone. Martin saw the appeal and passed a hand-written note to a prison guard, which confirmed where he had discarded the device.

“This contained vital evidence which was subsequently used in the trial.”

Marko Brooke, Specialist Prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: “This has been an extremely challenging case to prosecute.

“Derek Martin’s claim that he had ‘lost it’ when he killed Chloe and Josh did not tie up with the evidence of what happened on that fateful day.

“Martin then had the presence of mind to clean up the scene and did everything he could to ensure that Josh and Chloe’s children did not find out what had happened to their parents, before handing himself into police and admitting what he had done.

“In cases like this, the main evidence comes from expert psychiatrists.

"It required significant additional enquires to be made to carefully scrutinise the initial position adopted by some of the expert psychiatrists in saying that Martin did have a partial defence of diminished responsibility.

“This meant that the case has taken a long time to come to trial, and we appreciate the additional distress this has caused to Chloe and Josh’s family and friends.

"We are tremendously thankful to them for their patience and support during this terrible time and hope that today’s verdicts bring them some small comfort.”

A spokesperson for the CPS added: “Some of the most important evidence came from data from Chloe’s phone, which showed that there was a gap of time in between Chloe being attacked and Josh arriving home.

“Martin also admitted that, after killing the couple, he changed his clothes and tried to clean up the scene.

"He removed the door handles, so that if the couple’s children returned home, they could not find the bodies of their parents.

“He then took the children out, telling them that their parents had had a row, before messaging a family member to say that he was going to give himself up to police and asking her not to take the children home.

“In total, five psychiatrists provided reports on Martin. Three said a partial defence was available to him.

"One said it may be available, but it would be for a jury to decide, and the other said he did not have grounds for a partial defence, as his actions at the time of the killings and in accounts to medical staff did not correlate with someone whose recognised medical condition impacted their ability to exercise self-control.

“Having heard all the evidence, the jury rejected Martin’s claim of diminished responsibility and convicted him of murder.”