'Our broken justice system destroyed us’: Brother of murdered dad blasts two-year trial delay as killer finally jailed
Billy Bashford has told LBC the courts need 'serious reform’ with his family put through ‘hell’ after the trial was postponed five times.
The brother of a man murdered alongside his wife has condemned Britain’s “broken justice system,” saying repeated court delays over two and a half years left his family “constantly let down”.
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Derek Martin, 67, was jailed for life this week with a minimum term of 29 years for killing Josh and Chloe Bashford at their home in Newhaven, East Sussex, in June 2023.
But for Josh’s brother Billy, the sentence brings little comfort, after enduring months of uncertainty which he described as “emotionally draining and exhausting."
“You don’t really know how bad the justice system is until you’re in it,” he told LBC.
“We were mentally preparing for the trial again and again and every single time, it got pulled. It was often two days, or once the day before it was due to start.
“I got to the point where I thought - I can’t do this anymore, I can’t take it, haven’t the families been through enough?
Billy said they endured five separate trial delays, with proceedings repeatedly postponed for more time to conduct psychiatric reports on Martin.
“It broke us. Something has to change in the justice system, the courts, I don’t want to see another family strung along like we have been. It needs serious reform.”
Derek Martin, was a family friend of Josh, 33, and Chloe Bashford, 30.
He attacked them at their home at lunchtime on the 9th June 2023, striking Chloe over the head with a hammer before stabbing her multiple times.
When Josh came home, Martin chased him upstairs, stabbed him repeatedly, and strangled him.
He then changed his clothes, removed the couple’s doorbell camera, and picked up their four children from school before taking them to McDonalds in Newhaven.
He later bought beers and had them on the seafront before telling officers at Brighton Police Station that ‘he’d killed two people’.
Derek Martin admitted causing the deaths but denied murder, claiming diminished responsibility - a defence rejected by the jury last month after hearing evidence from five psychiatrists.
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Billy recalled arriving at his brother’s home on the night of the murders to find police cars and crime tape surrounding the house.
“I’ll never forget it. We were stood outside for hours waiting to be told what had happened.
"It was the worst moment of my life.”
Billy described Josh as his “best friend” who he “loved so much” - a devoted dad and “joy to be around.”
“I’m heartbroken. It’s devastating and it so traumatic hearing what Derek Martin did.
"Losing Josh and Chloe has ripped a hole in our family that will never heal. Those kids have lost everything - their mum, their dad, their home. It will haunt us all forever.
“Only now can we try to have closure, as this has been going on for such a long time.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The Government inherited a justice system in crisis, and the record court backlog means victims are waiting too long for justice.”
“That’s why we are carefully considering Sir Brian Leveson’s proposals for once-in-a-generation reforms, and funding record levels of Crown Court sitting days, to fix this broken system and get victims the justice they deserve.”