A cannabis abuser who claimed he stabbed his girlfriend and three of her family members as a “sacrifice” has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 46 years for their murders.
Joshua Jacques, 29, was fuelled by drugs and alcohol when he attacked Samantha Drummonds and her family with a knife in their home in Delaford Road, Bermondsey, south London, early on April 25 2022, the Old Bailey heard.
Police found the bodies of Ms Drummonds, 27, her mother Tanysha Ofori-Akuffo, 45, grandmother Dolet Hill, 64, and Ms Hill’s partner, Denton Burke, 58, after being alerted to a disturbance by a neighbour.
Officers found Mr Burke’s body at the foot of the stairs and the three women “heaped together” in the kitchen.