The horrific moment a man was seen taking children to McDonald’s after murdering their parents has been released.
Derek Martin, a 67-year-old from Brighton, was previously married to one of his victims’ mothers and claimed that he had been cleaning a window at the property just before the killings in June 2023.
It is alleged that he hit Chloe Bashford, his ex-wife's daughter, with whom he had a close relationship and visited her home regularly, over the head with a hammer and then stabbed her to death after an argument about money caused him to snap.
Sussex Police said once he was done with the 30-year-old mum of four, her partner, Josh, 33, arrived home from work and saw Martin with a knife in his hand and fled upstairs.
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Martin is said to have followed him before stabbing him and then strangling the dad to death.
After murdering her and her husband, Martin changed his clothes and picked up the couple’s children from school before taking them to Costa and McDonald’s in Newhaven for food.
CCTV footage released shows the 67-year-old taking the kids for a day out and even disposing of Chloe’s mobile phone in bushes near the local Sainsbury’s.
Officials claimed that he had attempted to prevent the children from finding the bodies of their parents by removing the door handles from the home.
Once they had wrapped up their day out, he is said to have returned the children to their grandmother’s home in Brighton, bought beers from a shop in Whitehawk and drank them on the seafront before handing himself in to police.
Allegedly, he told authorities when he arrived: “I’ve killed two people.”
Officers surveyed the Bashford family home after the admission and found the bodies of Chloe and Josh.
Martin was arrested and remanded in custody, and slipped a police officer a note detailing where he had left Chloe’s phone after seeing a police appeal.
He admitted to causing the deaths of Chloe and Joshua; however, he denied murdering them as he claimed diminished responsibility due to suffering from a depressive disorder.
After three weeks at trial for the killings, Martin was found guilty on Friday (24 October).
The jury at Lewes Crown Court rejected Martin’s claim of diminished responsibility and instead handed him two counts of murder.
Detective Chief Inspector Kimball Edey, at the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team, said: “I would like to thank Chloe and Josh’s children and their families for their patience during this investigation.
"It goes without saying how sorry I am that they have had to suffer the loss of Chloe and Josh, and I am in awe at the courage and strength they have all shown following the events of 9 June 2023.”
While he said the result of the trial will ‘not change what happened’, he hopes ‘it will enable them to end this chapter and move onto the next’.
Marko Brooke from the Crown Prosecution Service also said Martin’s claim of having ‘lost it’ did not add up to the evidence found, as he had allegedly waited for the arrival of Josh to murder him.
According to the BBC, five psychiatrists spoke at Martin's trial, and Surrey and Sussex Police Major Crime Team senior investigating officer DCI Kimball Edey said that he believed that the 67-year-old 'would have had to have sufficient thought' to attack Chloe and Josh.
The couple's relatives described them as 'brilliant' parents who 'would do anything for their children'.
Martin’s sentencing will commence on 6 November.
Britt Jones