A jilted boyfriend killed himself, his former girlfriend and her new partner after buying a £250 ‘murder kit’ and setting her bedroom ablaze with petrol, an inquest heard.
Ashley Martin, 32, is said to have planned revenge after his first ever girlfriend Jay Edmunds, 27, broke up with him on December 28 last year after eight months together.
Seemingly unaware that Miss Edmunds had gone back to ex-boyfriend Billy Hicks, 24, the transport manager hired a Ford Transit van and bought a £253 ‘murder kit’ on New Year’s Eve, along with 17 litres of petrol.
Detectives found the kit consisted of a Bear Grylls lock knife, a hunting knife, a 20 litre jerry can, binoculars, waterproof matches, strong fishing line, a camping stove and gas, a torch, batteries and waterproof matches.
On New Year’s Day, Miss Edmunds and Mr Hicks got home at 2.30am and went to her bedroom in her house on Peartree Road, Kirton near Boston, Lincolnshire.
A short time after they returned, it’s believed that Mr Martin climbed through a kitchen window which had been left ajar for a cat.
Miss Edmunds’ two housemates were woken by screaming and shouting as Mr Martin – who was said by his brother to have a ‘fascination with the army’ – confronted her in the bedroom.
Mr Hicks was stabbed in the heart during a struggle, before Mr Martin allegedly set the room alight with petrol, causing a fireball explosion which blew out the bedroom windows and then collapsed the bedroom into the living room.
Three badly burned bodies were recovered and post mortems concluded that they had died from smoke inhalation. The wound to Mr Hicks’ heart had also contributed to his death.
Miss Edmunds’ housemate Rachel Braim was trapped behind the locked front door, but saved by two neighbours who smashed the glass pane with a piece of wood and dragged her out.
A second housemate named Natalie Hall was forced to jump out of her bedroom window to escape the flames. The inquest heard that it was likely that Mr Martin would have been charged with two murders if he had survived.
Det Chief Inspector Karl Whiffen of Lincolnshire Police said Mr Martin and Miss Edmunds had spent Christmas with her parents in Devon before she ended their relationship within minutes of him returning to his brother’s house in Dunstable.
He said: ‘Information suggests Ashley was overbearing with Jay and would smother her. She decided to end the relationship. The pair had appeared to be distant over Christmas.’
