The quiet seaside town of Newhaven, East Sussex, has been shaken to its core after Derek Martin, a man once regarded as a trusted family friend and even affectionately called "stepdad" by his victim, was found guilty of the double murder of Chloe Bashford and her husband, Josh. The verdict, delivered after more than two years of agonizing delays and courtroom drama, has brought a measure of closure to the families, but the pain and outrage remain palpable.
For Chloe and Josh’s relatives, the wait for justice was nothing short of torment. "It's been hell," Billy Bashford, Josh’s brother, told the BBC after Martin’s conviction. "It's been a weight on my shoulders for so long. It's affected relationships in my life, my work life, my family life." The trial, which finally began in early October 2025, had been rescheduled five times, prolonging the families’ anguish and repeatedly dashing their hopes for a resolution.
The events leading up to the murders on June 9, 2023, seemed almost mundane at first glance. According to court testimony reported by BBC News, Martin, then 67 and a resident of Brighton, had become a near-daily presence in Chloe and Josh Bashford’s lives. He helped with the school run, pitched in with cleaning and decorating, and even shared meals with the family. That morning, he dropped the youngest children at school and nursery, then took Chloe out for breakfast. But the ordinary routine quickly turned tragic after an argument erupted over money Chloe allegedly owed him.
Back at the Bashford home, Martin attacked Chloe with a hammer, stabbed her, and killed her. When Josh, 33, arrived home from work just minutes later, Martin stabbed and strangled him as well. The couple’s children, aged between four and fifteen, were spared the immediate horror but were left orphaned and bewildered by the events that unfolded.
In the aftermath, Martin’s actions took on a chillingly calculated tone. As reported by BBC, he attempted to cover up his crimes before the children returned home. He cleaned the house, removed door handles from the rooms where the bodies lay, and took down the Ring doorbell from the front door. He even drove the couple’s car to another road in Newhaven, then picked up the children after school, taking them for drinks and dinner at McDonald’s—an attempt, perhaps, to maintain a facade of normalcy or buy himself time.
Martin didn’t stop there. He texted the older children, instructing them not to come home but to meet him at Costa Coffee instead. According to Andrew Bashford, Josh’s father, "He took the door handles off 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."
After dropping the children outside the home of Elaine Sturges, Chloe’s mother and Martin’s ex-wife, Martin drove himself to Brighton Police Station and turned himself in. The sense of betrayal ran deep for the families, who had once trusted Martin implicitly. Sharon Bashford, Josh’s mother, described the ordeal of waiting for the trial as "unbearable." She told BBC, "You build yourself up for it and then suddenly at the very last minute, things change. Things are cancelled because the defence is 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."
Martin’s legal team argued that he could not be held fully responsible for his actions, citing his history of depression and seeking a manslaughter conviction on the grounds of diminished responsibility. As explained by BBC, diminished responsibility is a partial defense to murder, which, if successful, results in a lesser sentence. Martin admitted manslaughter but denied murder. However, the jury was unconvinced, and the court ultimately found him guilty of murder. Chloe’s mother, Elaine Sturges, was blunt in her assessment: "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’s father, Jason Godden, echoed the sentiment, telling BBC, "He's playing the system just to try and get a lower sentence." The prosecution’s case was bolstered by the testimony of five psychiatrists, one of whom, according to DCI Kimball Edey of Surrey and Sussex Police’s Major Crime Team, described the case 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."
Martin claimed that the attack was triggered by feeling "used" over the money Chloe owed him and that he "lost it" in the heat of the moment. But investigators and family members alike doubted this explanation. DCI Edey told BBC, "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 food 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."
For the families of Chloe and Josh, the verdict brings some measure of justice, but the wounds left by Martin’s betrayal and violence will not heal easily. As they await his sentencing on November 6, 2025, their thoughts remain with the children left behind and the lives so senselessly cut short. The story of this case is a sobering reminder of the complexities of the human psyche, the challenges of the justice system, and the enduring pain of loss.
