Chilling Confession Behind Couple's Brutal Double Murder

Derek Martin walked into a police. station in Brighton, south of London, and said four words that shook a. community. I've murdered two people. His. victims, prosecutors say, none other. than his stepdaughter, Khloe Bashford, and her husband, Josh. After a long, delayed journey through the courts, Martin is finally on trial. But what. reportedly drove him to commit such a. violent act? Does he have a defense? We're going to break it all down with an. international attorney. Welcome to. Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm.

Jesse Weber. [Music]. When Derek Martin walked into Brighton. Police Station one evening back in June. of 2023, police say he told them the. unimaginable. Four words that would. change everything. I've murdered two. people. And those two people, they were. his former step-daughter, Khloe. Bashford, and her husband, Josh. Now, if. you haven't heard about this case, this. one takes us overseas. It takes us to. East Sussex, England. A tragedy that.

touches on family ties, hidden. resentment, mental health struggles, a. justice system that even now in 2025. still hasn't delivered closure. So. today, we're going to unpack how a quiet. family dispute spiraled into absolute. tragedy and how it left an entire. community stuck waiting for closure. This takes us back to June 9th, 2023 on. a Friday afternoon in New Haven, which. is a coastal town near Brighton. Khloe. Bashford was at home. She was a. 30-year-old mother of four. Her husband.

Josh was working that day. Friends, family described them as quote amazing. parents. That they were funny, they were. loving, the kind of couple who seemed to. hold their world together effortlessly. But behind the scenes, there was. tension. Now, to be clear, it wasn't. between Khloe and Josh. It was between. Khloe and someone she still called dad. Derek Martin. According to the Times UK, Dererick had once been married to. Khloe's mother, Elaine. He'd helped. raise Khloe from her early teens. And.

even after the divorce, she stayed in. touch. They texted often. They saw each. other. She reportedly treated him with. the same affection she always had. But. in the months before that June day, something changed. Martin was sinking, especially financially. He had taken to. gambling. According to the Times, the. debts apparently piled up. The BBC. reports he was around $11,000 in debt. And six months before the killings, he. reportedly stopped taking. anti-depressants. Per the Telegraph, he. told police he felt used all the time.

And it was as if he could never do. enough for people. And so on June 9th, Martin had arrived sometime that morning. at Khloe and Josh's home on LSE Road in. New Haven. This is according to. authorities. But what happened by. midday, prosecutors say, unfolded in a. matter of minutes. At around 12:15 p.m., prosecutors alleged that Martin and. Khloe spoke briefly in the kitchen, possibly about money. And police later. confirmed that there were no defensive. wounds, you know, consistent with a long.

fight. But instead, this attack, according to them, began suddenly and. violently. Investigators believe the. initial weapon that Martin used was a. hammer. Prosecutors in court this week. said the first blow struck the top of. Khloe's head. Moments later, Martin. allegedly grabbed a large kitchen knife. and stabbed Khloe eight times. Prosecutors say that two of those wounds. went in 20 cm deep. That is 7 in. This. killed her. At approximately 12:20 p.m.,

Khloe's husband, Josh, comes home. And. prosecutors believe he was confronted. almost immediately by Martin, who was. still holding that knife. Josh. reportedly ran upstairs into his bedroom. where he suffered multiple stab wounds. and blunt force trauma to his face and. neck. Prosecutors say Martin allegedly. then strangled him, possibly using a. belt that was found at the scene. And. after the killings, the BBC reports that. prosecutors say Martin started to move. through the house methodically, changing. his clothes, removing door handles from.

the bedrooms where police later found. the couple's bodies, and detached the. doorbell camera from the front of the. house. He then apparently left the. property. And where did he go? To pick. up his grandchildren from school that. afternoon. Investigators say he had. collected Khloe and Josh's children from. school, brought them to a Costa Coffee. in Peace Haven in a McDonald's, and then. drove them to their grandmother's home, right, his ex-wife, Elaine Sturgis, before leaving them safely in her care.

Now, prosecutors say he also told the. oldest child. Prosecutors say he also. told the oldest child their parents had. a big row. So, a disagreement. Hey, I. want to take a quick minute to thank. Upside for sponsoring our coverage of. Shawn Dome's trial. Now, Upside is. amazing. It is a free app that gets you. cash back on daily essentials like gas, groceries. I pump my gas, I can use. Upside. I go out to lunch, I can use. Upside. Maybe I get something at a. convenience store, I can use Upside. And. why not get cash back when doing all. these things, right? Yes, this is actual.

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your first tank of gas. And then a short. while later, he would be accused of. sending Elaine an absolutely bone. chilling message. And we will get to. that part of the story in a minute. But. first, to help me break all this down, I. want to bring back on to sidebar. international law attorney David Tfur. Thank you so much for taking the time. Good to see you again. Let's start here. in cases involving premeditation versus. sudden acts of violence, right? How does. UK law determine the severity of the. charge? How do UK investigators handle a.

crime like this? >> Well, it's not altogether different from. how we do it here in the US. They're. going to look at all the evidence that. they're able to collect. And in this. case, it's uh, you know, helpful that. the defendant gave a confession uh the. same day as he allegedly committed these. murders and he gave some explanation for. why he committed the murders. And. there's other evidence based on people. he spoke to right before the crime.

alleged crimes. And so they will kind of. look at all of that. And of course, the. most interesting part to me is his. defense. now of insanity. >> Yeah. I I want to get to that. Um but. you talk about the evidence that they. built in this case so far, the removal. of security cameras, the phone disposal. in the building. When you're talking. about a case of premeditation or a case. of obstruction of justice, that feels. quite significant. I mean, your opinion. about the evidence against and putting. aside the idea of uh you know, mental.

health, that I think would suggest a. level of planning or a level of. premeditation. >> Yeah. the certainly with respect to the. cameras and some of the other things he. did before the crimes that would show. premeditation. Disposing of um his. stepdaughter's phone which I understand. happened after the crime would not show. premeditation and moreover there was. some evidence at least I think one. grandson said he had a really bad temper.

which would suggest you know that would. be one of the explanations for why this. happened that didn't involve. premeditation. So, I think it's going to. be a bit of a tough case to make on the. evidence, but it's certainly possible. >> Let's explore this. What role, as far as. you know, what role does mental health. play in UK criminal cases for violent. crimes? If he claims that he was. temporarily out of his mind due to. depression or not taking meds, does that. affect guilt? Does that affect.

sentencing? What should we be thinking. about? So the UK has what's called the. Mcnotton rule which is from the mid. 1800s and they followed it ever since. then which is that if a person is. suffering from a serious mental. condition and that mental condition. caused them to not know what they were. doing or not know what they were doing. was wrong, then they could be found to. be guilty by reason of insanity. And in.

that case, the sentencing would be. potentially very different. The UK also. has a concept that is a little bit. different, which is diminish capacity as. a result of a mental issue. And that. could be used to lessen the charge, but. not have the defendant be found. not guil guilty by reason of insanity. >> We'll get into more aspects of this. case. Do you think it applies here from. what you've seen? Well, apparently he.

does have a history of depression. He. was on medication for his depression and. he went off that medication about 6. months before the alleged crimes. So, those would be facts that he would. likely use. It's going to depend on what. the experts say. I think he has to have. two uh you know psychological or. psychiatrists to a act as experts to. give their opinion on whether he was.

insane at the time that the crimes. happened and that will be an important. part of it. There's obviously here in. the US and in the UK there's a lot of. controversy around defenses like this. and so the court has to be aware of that. especially because this has gotten so. much media attention. Let let me tell. you what I think might complicate it. I. mentioned before, I'll talk about it. now. So, sometime after dropping the. children off at Elaine's, Martin is. believed to have sent this message to. her. According to the BBC, quote, "Ela,

I'm so sorry. I can't believe what I've. done. I know everyone hates me anyway, especially the boys. I hate myself. anyway, and please, please look after. the children really well." He then. reportedly unlocked Khloe's phone, read. messages from her daughter, and then. replied to this girl using his own phone. saying, "Mom said not today." David, what do you take away from that? How. does that after everything we just.

talked about mental health, a possible. mental health defense? I think that. could be problematic. >> I absolutely agree with you. I I I read. that message that he sent to his ex-wife. a number of times. It's a bit awkward. and a bit odd, but it doesn't show. someone who seems to be insane. It. doesn't show someone who doesn't. understand what they did and doesn't. understand that it was wrong. In fact, you know, he's saying sorry. So, he's. apologizing for it on the same day that. it happened. So, that's going to be.

potentially devastating evidence for his. claim that he was insane on that day. And this would be admissible as far as. you know, >> I think so. I don't see any reason why. it it wouldn't be. It uh you know, she's. going to be able to testify to it. Um. and uh it's you know there's they have. the the the the evidence of it that will. be submitted and then you know also it's. you know in in in our system um it's not. going to be hearsay. So, so let's for.

those of you who might say, you know, I. don't know, those messages maybe are. ambiguous, but say, I is it really a confession? Here's here's the other problem. Not. long after allegedly sending those. messages, he apparently walks into. Brighton Police Station and confesses, reportedly flat out telling them, "I've. murdered two people." Now, Martin was. arrested at the station without. incident, kept under observation. overnight. During interviews, according. to the Times, he told detectives he had.

flipped, that he hadn't planned to kill. them, but quote, "Just lost it." And on. June 10th, 2023, Martin was formally. charged with two counts of murder. Now, David, we know that in cases here in the. States, whenever someone is accused of. confessing, the first thing that defense. attorneys look at is, "Well, was it. coerced? Was they were they read their. rights? What what were the. circumstances? What was exactly said? Is. that the same thing we're talking about. in the UK or, you know, are we saying. right now this looks like pretty.

straight flatout confession? It's going. to be really tough for the defense. >> Those could be issues in the UK, but the. facts even here in the US would suggest. that this wasn't coerced. He voluntarily. decided to turn himself in. He told his. ex-wife he was going to do so and he. went with a confession to give. He. wasn't, you know, it wasn't, you know, an involuntary interrogation that. resulted in this confession. So, for.

those reasons, I think it's going to be. hard for his defense lawyers to get him. out of that or to get it um, you know, excluded. Now, this idea that he if he's admitting. this, then why don't we take everything. that he said, if it wasn't planned, it. wasn't necessarily premeditated, right? Um his mind was maybe centered around. money that he and Khloe had gotten into. some kind of argument before he. allegedly killed her. From what you. know, could that argument be considered.

provocation? Could that be any way to. reduce a murder charge in some way in. the UK? The heat of the moment kind of. thing. >> Yeah, I think. that the heat of the moment thing is. going to take away the premeditation if. the court believes that he, you know, was acting, you know, suddenly and as a. result of his temper, heat of the. moment. I would say though that that.

defense is going to be much harder to. make for the second person he killed. because after he killed his. stepdaughter, he laid in wait for her. husband and he attacked him when he. walked in the door. And that sounds much. more like premeditation. And I'm not. sure how he's going to, you know, avoid. a finding of premeditation given those. facts. >> Yeah. Um, and we also know according to. the Times UK that Martin had lent Khloe. around $800. That's an American money. which she had been gradually repaying.

The BBC reported that Martin himself was. facing nearly $11,000 in debt, largely. stemming from gambling. And at the time. of Khloe's death, she had reportedly. reduced her debt to about $200. But. according to the Daily Mail, Martin had. lent Khloe and Josh various amounts of. money over the years. £1,000 for a car, 600 lb for bills, 1,500 lb for family. expenses. Um, and you wonder, you know, how that might factor into the the case. Could it factor into the case? Could a.

defense lawyer, David, argue that this. financial dispute um played a role in. some way? I mean, we kind of talked. about it, but when I read out those. numbers, it could be part of the larger. story. I think it's certainly part of the. motive that the prosecution will try to. establish and it certainly doesn't make. him look good. Um, obviously you can't. resort to violence to collect any debt, but this is a very small debt. The type. of, you know, loaning of money that.

happens among family members that's. quite expected in our society. And so. for him to be enraged by the fact that. she owed him a pretty small amount of. money, $200, and for that to be an excuse or a basis. for him to attack and kill her, that's. pretty outrageous. >> And I mentioned earlier that Martin had. reportedly stopped taking anti. anti-depressants months before the. tragedy. Um, ITV reports that in. multiple interviews with psychiatrists, Martin was believed to have suffered.

from a depressive disorder, although the. outlets reports that their opinions vary. on whether it was truly severe enough to. constitute excusing him from. culpability. And David, I think you. mentioned this before. This is going to. come down to what do you think? A battle. of the experts? >> I think so. It'll be a battle of the. experts. And um if he has really good. experts who have a lot of experience in. diagnosing people with serious you know. mental impairment and they're you know.

able to establish that based on their. discussions with him and based on his. medical record then that could give him. a stronger basis to make that insanity. defense. >> So Martin is currently on trial in. Brighton. The proceedings started on. October 6th. It was not an easy road. getting there, by the way. Martin. actually first appeared in court in. August of 2023, according to the BBC, according to the BBC, where despite. having reportedly confessed to the. killings, Martin instead chose to plead.

not guilty to murder, but guilty to. manslaughter. So, the court remanded him. into custody ahead of a trial, it was. initially scheduled for November of. 2023. Since then, the trial has been. postponed five times. Ministry of. Justice figures reviewed by the BBC. reveal that there are currently 75,000. Crown Court cases waiting to be heard. The backlog has grown so severe that. some new cases, they're not expected to. be scheduled until 2029. David is how. common is that in the UK?

>> I'm not sure. It's actually sounds a bit. like our system where we have an. enormous backlog. We don't have enough. judges. We don't have enough. prosecutors. Uh I don't know if this is. new in the UK system and if it's a. result of you know decreases in budget. for their justice system or not but I. will say that the family members have. complained about this that it is called. caused you know a lot of distress for. them to keep having it postponed in this. way and so you would hope it will have a.

a quick resolution now and there will be. no further delays. A and the idea that. you had a defendant here who apparently. plead not guilty to murder, guilty to. manslaughter even after confessing, was. that strange to you? >> No, I think that that has to do with. this, you know, defense that they have. in the UK of diminished mental capacity. and that's what he's basically going. for. I think he realizes he's not going. to get full, you know, a full he's not. be successful in a full defense of, you.

know, guilty by reason of insanity, but. I think he's trying to get that. diminished capacity, which lowers the. charge. >> Well, his trial is expected to last 3. weeks. Anything you're going to be on. the lookout for? just what happens with. these experts that are likely to testify. about his mental condition and then also. how the case is how the it will proceed. um with respect to premeditation and the. difference between the first murder. alleged murder and the second alleged. murder and with the second one being.

more interesting on the premeditation. side because he was laying in wait for. him. >> David Defury, thanks so much for taking. the time. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> That is all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us and as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your. podcasts. You can follow me on X or. Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll see you. next time. [Music].