A person who admires the TV show character Dexter has been convicted of the murder of two homeless individuals. The victims’ bodies were dismembered and concealed in a wooded area. James Desborough, aged 40, was found guilty of killing Claudio Aquilino, 57, and Daniel Coleman, 43, before hiding their remains in Cornwall the previous year.
Desborough, a former builder, is currently serving a life sentence for strangling his prison cellmate, Steven Kempster, at HMP Exeter while awaiting trial for the recent murders. This latest conviction makes him a serial killer, having taken the lives of three men in separate incidents within a span of five months.
The guilty verdicts were delivered by a jury at Winchester Crown Court after three hours and 15 minutes of deliberation. Desborough remained stoic as the verdicts were announced. Evidence presented during the trial revealed that the victims had lived with Desborough at a homeless shelter, and the last time they were seen alive was in his company.
Following their disappearance, Desborough, a robust individual standing at 5ft 10in and weighing nearly 18st, used their money to fund his drug and alcohol habits. The dismemberment of the victims’ bodies occurred in Sticker Woods near St Austell, where Desborough resided in a wooden cabin. Authorities discovered 1,900 charred bone fragments from Mr. Aquilino’s body at the site.
Parts of Mr. Coleman’s body, including his torso, legs, and feet, were unearthed in a shallow grave nearby. Desborough expressed a disturbing affinity for dismemberment scenes from the TV series Dexter to a forensic biologist assisting in the search for Mr. Coleman’s body.
Inside Desborough’s cabin, several handwritten notes were found, including references to executing predators and lists titled “Bug out list” and “Hostiles.” Desborough had sketched a diagram with Sticker Woods at the center, labeled as a “Kill Zone” with operational spheres extending to London and Benidorm.
Desborough had made plans to leave the UK before his arrest. Despite denying the murders, he claimed that the deaths were accidental and a result of unfortunate circumstances. He attempted to justify his actions by mentioning his homelessness, joblessness, financial struggles, and addiction issues.
Desborough asserted that he did not murder Mr. Coleman but discovered him lifeless and naked in a stream, prompting him to dismember the body out of fear of being caught with drugs. He admitted to using the victims’ money for personal indulgences but insisted they were friends. Desborough had pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful burial of the victims’ bodies.
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