https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10762163/Bermondsey-bloodbath-suspect-charged-four-murders.htmlBermondsey bloodbath suspect enters no plea as he faces four murder counts in court: Boyfriend, 28, is charged with killing lover, 29, her mother, 45, grandmother, 64 and her partner, 58, in knife attack south London home
Joshua Jacques, 28, boyfriend of Samantha Drummonds, in court this morning
Dolet Hill one of four people killed at a house in Bermondsey on Monday
Retired nurse who was fighting cancer died alongside her partner Denton Burke
Dolet's daughter Tanysha and granddaughter Samantha Drummonds also died
Jacques remanded in custody. He will next appear at the Old Bailey on May 3
By Martin Robinson, Chief Reporter
Published: 07:31, 28 April 2022 | Updated: 14:40, 28 April 2022
The suspect accused of stabbing to death three generations of the same family was in the dock today after being charged with four counts of murder. Joshua Jacques, 28, of Hither Green, south-east London, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court this afternoon and was swept in in a white prison van at around 10am after arriving from Brixton jail. As he was led away to the cells after being remanded in custody following a five-minute hearing where no pleas were entered, the defendant tapped his heart and made a salute with his finger to his aunt who was sitting in the public gallery. Dolet Hill, 64, her husband, daughter and granddaughter were all stabbed to death at her home close to the Millwall football stadium. Jacques, who was the boyfriend of Mrs Hill's murdered granddaughter Samantha Drummonds, 29, was arrested at the scene in the early hours of Monday. Mrs Hill's husband Denton Burke, 58, and her daughter Tanysha Drummonds, a 45-year-old nurse, were also found dead at the address in Bermondsey. Today the murder suspect appeared in the dock wearing a grey prison-issue tracksuit and did not give any plea to the four murder charges during the five-minute hearing. He spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth. When asked to confirm his address of Minard Road, Lewisham, he said: 'It was ....'
Jacques was charged on Thursday morning following an investigation by homicide detectives from the Met's Specialist Crime Command. District Judge Daniel Sternberg said: 'Your case will next be heard at the Central Criminal Court on May 3 this year. I am required to remand you in custody.'
Tracey Henry, 47, who is Mrs Hill's surviving daughter, said: 'We are in pieces. We are too upset to say any more and we're having a family meeting.'
Mrs Drummonds's grief-stricken husband, Danny Ofori-Akuffo, said the suspected knifeman was Tasered by officers after neighbours were alerted by screams and raised the alarm. He said that his wife was there to care for her mother following surgery and that Miss Drummonds, 29, brought Jacques to the family home on Saturday to meet them all. Mr Ofori-Akuffo phoned his wife at 11.30pm on Sunday and she told him she had dozed off on the sofa. 'Those were the last words I had with her. I still cannot believe it. It hasn't sunk in,' he added.
Pastor Lloyd Henry, of the family's New Testament Church of God in Dulwich, said Mrs Hill, a retired assistant in the pharmacy at St Guy's Hospital, had joined a mission to Ghana in 2017. 'They were a lovely, hard-working family who were really close and all supported each other,' he added. 'They were always together, it was a joy to see such a tight family. All of them were regular churchgoers and very active in the community. Dolet would always cook for members of the congregation who needed it, she always cooked fish for us at Easter and she was so generous. She joined us on a mission to Ghana in 2017 to build a clinic in the village of Tarkwa Banso, which was so far away from any hospital and in desperate need of a medical facility. Her granddaughter, Samantha, sang in the church choir with my daughter, who was the same age.'
Mr Burke's sister, Juleth Hutchinson, said the family 'did not deserve to die like this'.
The 62-year-old added: 'My brother was a nice, quiet and innocent man. He was always joking and smiling.'
Neighbours of Miss Drummonds, a former worker at NatWest, described her as a 'beautiful, sociable young girl who would bend over backwards to help anybody'.
Leanca Levy, 36, said: 'I am waiting for surgery and every time I was waiting for deliveries or shopping Samantha would carry my stuff up for me. She was just a delight.'
