Dale Martin, also known as DJ, was dragged out of a car in Derby in June 2025 and repeatedly stabbed and slashed. On Friday, one man was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years for his murder. Five other men from the city, found guilty of manslaughter following a trial lasting more than four months, were also jailed.
Speaking to the BBC after the sentencing hearing, the victim's father, Dale Martin, said some of the killers went to the same school as his son, and some would come to his house for evening meals as children. "That hurts, it hurts a lot," he said. "Some of these children used to hang about on the street late at night, and if we were about and we were cooking tea, someone would come in and have tea in the garden or in the kitchen with us."
The trial, which lasted over four months, concluded with the convictions. The life sentence for murder and the manslaughter sentences mark the end of a lengthy legal process for the family.