Man on trial over murder of two men in Cornwall accused of ‘telling pack of lies to hoodwink jury’
James Desborough, 40, denies killing Claudio Aquilino and Daniel Coleman, whose remains were found in woods near Sticker last year
A man on trial over the murder of two men in Cornwall has been accused of telling a pack of lies about what happened to them in a “last desperate attempt to hoodwink” the jury.
James Desborough, 40, had told Winchester Crown Court it was a “series of unfortunate circumstances” the two men died on his land within a short space of time.
He is accused of murdering Claudio Aquilino, 57, on a date between April 17 and July 7 last year and Daniel Coleman, 43, between June 2 and July 7 last year in Cornwall.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, he told jurors he cannot remember deciding to dismember his friend Mr Coleman after finding him dead in a stream and drinking a bottle of tequila.
He has previously pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful burial of the two men’s bodies.
Desborough said he used a hatchet on Mr Coleman but he did not dismember Mr Aquilino who he disposed of in a stream in the woods where he lived in a cabin.
He accepted then spending their money on beer and drugs, but he denied killing the pair, telling jurors: “They were friends, I got on well with them.”
Of Mr Aquilino, Desborough told jurors how he was living with him for some time, and that he was in “bad shape”, paranoid about people trying to kill him in town and spoke of suicide “once or twice”.
Desborough described how he found him hanging when he was high on ketamine, and Mr Coleman shortly followed and checked for his pulse but could not find one.
“I started going into shock and panicking because I have a lot of Class A drugs on me,” he said.
He said Mr Coleman calmed him down and convinced him to dispose of the body and carry on using Mr Aquilino’s bank card.
“The idea was to cover up the death, carry on using his card.
“I’m not proud of it, it was like dangling the carrot.
“I was homeless, jobless, I had no money and addiction problems.”
He said he got pallet wood and kindling and disposed of his friend in the stream, adding: “I put him in the stream because I thought at least his ashes would go into the stream. I felt pressured into it.”
Of Mr Coleman, he said sometime between June 12 to 17 he found him naked in the stream “straight as an arrow with his face down”.
Asked if he knew how he died, he replied: “Not got a clue.”
He denied killing him or playing a part in his death.
On deciding what to do with his body, he said: “I can’t actually remember making any decision about dismembering Dan.
“I did drink a lot of tequila.”
He said that as he buried his friend he was “numb” and “wasn’t in a good place”.
Desborough said of continuing to use the pair’s bank cards after their deaths that he “wasn’t thinking”, adding: “I think by that point I lost all concept of reality by that point.”
In cross examination, Desborough said the reason he dismembered Mr Coleman was because “there was already an unlawful cover up because of Claudio”.
Addressing Desborough, prosecutor Ahmed Hossain KC said: “You have invented a fictional account to meet the evidence you’ve been presented with .
“I say you first tried to destroy evidence of how they died. You then said nothing to police.
“This fiction what you’re saying now is your last desperate attempt to hoodwink this jury just tell them a pack of lies.”
But Desborough replied: “No it’s not.”
Earlier on Tuesday, jurors heard evidence from pathologist Amanda Jeffrey that it has not been possible to determine Mr Coleman’s cause of death.
“That is primarily due to the condition of his body at the time he was discovered,” she told jurors.
The jury has previously heard that Mr Coleman and Mr Aquilino had met Desborough while living together at a hostel for the homeless in Newquay.
The last time they were both seen alive was in the company of the defendant.
Their bodies were dismembered and burnt in an area of Sticker Woods where Desborough lived in a cabin.
In the woods police discovered burned bone fragments believed to be from the body of Mr Aquilino.
Parts of Mr Coleman’s dismembered body were found in a shallow grave nearby.
The defendant, of Old Oak Woods, Lower Sticker, Cornwall, denies two charges of murder.
The trial continues.