A Lewisham knifeman left a ‘blood bath in his wake’ after stabbing his girlfriend and her family members to death in a drug and alcohol infused attack, a trial has heard. 

Joshua Jacques, 29, is accused of murdering his girlfriend Samantha Drummonds, 27, her mother Tanysha Ofori-Akuffo, 45, her grandmother Dolent Hill, 64, and Ms Hill’s partner, Denton Burke, 58. The attack took place in April 2022.  Jacques has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denies murder. 

Prosecutor Tom Little told jurors at the Old Bailey: “We say that the defendant killed his victims with murderous intent, and there’s no dispute about that, and that when he did so his ability to form a rational judgment and to exercise self-control were not substantially impaired by any psychiatric condition and indeed that his conduct on that night was brought about by self-induced intoxication, taking drugs and drinking alcohol.” 

All the stabbings took place at Drummonds grandmother’s house in Bermondsey. Burke was found at the bottom of the stairs, while the three women were found in the kitchen.  

Drummond admitted to friends before she died that her partner was having a hard time with his mental state. Hours before the killings, she told friend Rutanya Ford: “My partner’s got mental health [issues] and we are just trying to sort him out right now… we just need to get him something, some medication to calm him down.” 

In a voice note she told her best friend Ayo Omosuyi: “Literally like this weekend has just been a myth, like basically in a nutshell Josh is basically getting to the point where he could basically have an episode, like I don’t know what’s triggered him.”

In a call with his mother before the attacks, Jacques said he was gonna end it and make a sacrifice.  

The police found Jacques naked and lying in a praying position screaming “Allah, take me!”, “Kill me now”, “Get rid of me”, and “God please forgive me”.  

At Lewisham Hospital, Jacques told officers “I ain’t even in the wrong, I did them for sacrifice”, “I will do something stupid again”, “all of them are for sacrifices, you gotta understand the pattern” and “I had to sacrifice for the greater good”, jurors heard. 

The trial continues.