Overview

• Jurors at Brighton Crown Court watched bodycam video of Derek Martin entering a police station and saying, “I’ve killed two people.”
• CCTV shown to the jury captured Chloe Bashford having breakfast with Martin hours before the attack, after which he drove her to shop for groceries.
• Prosecutors say Martin first bludgeoned Chloe with a hammer, then stabbed her eight times, before later stabbing Joshua Bashford four times and strangling him.
• After the killings, Martin collected the couple’s four children, took them to a coffee shop, left them with their grandmother, and sent an apologetic text message.
• Martin admits manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility but denies murder, with testimony referencing depression, anxiety, and a dispute over money he said he was owed.