‘A family friend murdered our perfect parents...then he took us to McDonald's': Anguish of son, 18, as he reveals how killer picked him and his siblings up from school after stabbing his mother and father to death

A teenager whose parents were brutally stabbed to death by a family friend has described how the evil killer took him and his siblings to McDonald's after the murders.

Brooklyn Bashford, who was just 15 at the time, was picked up from school by Derek Martin, 67, who had just attempted to clear up the bloody carnage he had left at their family home.

Just hours earlier, he had attacked his stepdaughter - Brooklyn's mother - Chloe Bashford, 30, by grabbing a hammer and bludgeoning her on the head.

He then took a kitchen knife and stabbed Chloe eight times as she lay on the floor. 

Martin proceeded to lie in wait for her husband Josh, 33, to return home before chasing him upstairs, stabbing him four times and strangling him to death with a belt.

Following Martin's sentencing yesterday, Brooklyn, who is now 18-years-old, opened up for the first time about the day his life changed forever.

He explained that on June 9, 2023, after he had sat one of his GCSE exams he received a text from Martin to 'meet him at Costa'. 

Brooklyn explained that this happened around once or twice a week but it was more common for Martin to pick up his two sisters, aged 12 and seven, and his four-year-old brother.

'I remember he said to me that my parents had had a big argument,' Brooklyn told the BBC. 

'Then he just sat down and we talked about football and all sorts really, just completely normal stuff.'

Martin was the ex-husband of Brooklyn's grandmother and although the pair had divorced many years earlier, he was considered a family friend. 

Brooklyn explained that they had started to see more and more of him, and that he would often take his younger siblings to school. 

After leaving Costa, Martin put the children back in the car and stopped at a Sainsbury's store where he got out. 

The teenager said it was at this moment he texted his mother, asking 'are you mad at me' because she had not replied to his text from earlier in the day. 

However, unknown to Brooklyn at the time, Martin had just discarded Chloe's phone in the bushes in a corner of the supermarket carpark.

Martin then drove all the children to a McDonald's in Newhaven, East Sussex, where he was captured on CCTV buying them all a meal.   

And afterwards when they left, instead of taking Brooklyn and his siblings home, he headed in the direction of Brighton - towards his ex-wife's house.

'They were really surprised to see us, which was a bit weird we thought,' Brooklyn added.

It was at this point, Martin said he was 'so sorry' about what he had done and that he was going to hand himself into a police station. 

Brooklyn said his grandma 'screamed' and that he felt the 'worst feeling' that he had ever felt. 

Police body cam footage showed the moment he walked into Brighton police station and chillingly confessed: 'I've killed two people.'

Although he admitted killing the couple, he claimed he had been suffering from a serious mental disorder at the time and denied murdering them.

However, a jury dismissed his defence and convicted Martin of Moulsecoomb, Brighton, of both counts of murder at Brighton Law Courts. 

In an impact statement, Brooklyn told the court: 'He spoke for his family and also his siblings when he said their lives had been "changed forever" by the murders.'

He said: 'The tragic loss of our parents has torn our worlds apart. They were our foundation.'

He said their 'shocking' sudden deaths had changed everything for him and his brother and sisters.

He said he cannot think about his mum and dad without imagining the awful things that happened to them.

'Everything that was once normal and routine like birthdays, Christmas and holidays are now just reminders. It has shattered this entire family. We will always remember mum and dad.'

He said he was 'confused' how a man he thought loved them could commit such an awful crime.

The court heard Martin had been previously been married to Ms Sturges, but they had separated and divorced before Chloe was born.

However, after a spell in prison for burglarly Martin had apparently turned over a new leaf and had formed a close bond with the family again.

He liked to help out with chores around Chloe's home in Newhaven, East Sussex carrying out DIY tasks and decorating.

Brighton Law Courts heard Martin had lent Chloe around £1,500 to help her and Josh buy a new car and to carry out home improvements.

She was supposed to be paying him back on a monthly basis but had fallen behind with payments.