Lewisham man who murdered girlfriend and family jailed

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. 

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. 

Dolet Hill and Denton Burke (left), Tanysha (or Rachquel) Ofori-Akuffo (top right), Samantha Drummonds (Image: Met Police)

Armed officers discovered Jacques naked and lying in the upstairs bathroom in a praying position, screaming “Allah, take me!”, “Kill me now”, “Get rid of me”, and “God please forgive me”. 

Later, at Lewisham Hospital, Jacques said: “I ain’t even in the wrong, I did them for sacrifice”, and also warned: “I will do something stupid again.” 

He admitted manslaughter but denied murder on the basis that he was mentally unwell at the time. 

An Old Bailey jury deliberated for two hours to find Jacques, from Minard Road, Lewisham, south-east London, guilty of four counts of murder. 

 Jacques committed the “horrific catalogue of murders” after abusing skunk cannabis, a judge told the Old Bailey as he sentenced him to life with a minimum term of 46 years.

Addressing Jacques in the dock, Mr Justice Bryan said he had inflicted the murders “in the most brutal of circumstances on three generations of the same family” after increasing his daily intake of skunk cannabis.

He said Jacques’ offending had been contributed to by cannabis abuse and that he was “well aware” of the impact of it on his mental health.

He added: “It is a salutary lesson to all those who peddle the myth that cannabis is not a dangerous drug.

“It is, and its deleterious effect on mental health and its potential to cause psychosis is well established.”