Jury retires to consider verdicts in Cornwall double murder trial
James Desborough, 40, denies killing two men, whose remains were found in woods near Sticker last year
A jury has retired to consider its verdicts in the case of a fan of TV serial killer Dexter who is accused of murdering two men, dismembering their bodies and hiding their remains in woods.
James Desborough, 40, is charged with the murders of Claudio Aquilino, 57, and Daniel Coleman, 43, last year in Cornwall.
In summing up at Winchester Crown Court, Mr Justice Saini told the jury of eight men and four women they should put their emotions to one side and base their verdicts on the evidence.
“It is terribly sad that these two men, who had very challenging lives, died,” the judge said.
“Their lives are probably very far away from your own experiences. Put that emotion to one side and focus on the evidence.
“Mr Desborough does not have to prove anything. It is for the prosecution to make you sure – the burden is upon them.
“You have to decide the case on the evidence you have heard in this trial. You must not speculate, and it is the evidence in this case that matters.”
The trial heard the men had previously lived with Desborough at a hostel for the homeless in Newquay, and the last time they were both seen alive was in his company.
After their disappearances, Desborough went on to spend their money, the jury was told.
Their bodies were dismembered in an area of Sticker Woods where Desborough lived in a cabin on land he owned, the court heard.
In the woods police discovered 1,900 burned bone fragments from the body of Mr Aquilino.
Parts of Mr Coleman’s body, including his torso, legs and feet, were found in a shallow grave nearby.
The jury has previously heard Desborough told a forensic biologist who was searching the woods for Mr Coleman’s body that he “particularly enjoyed the dismemberment scenes” in the television series Dexter.
“A series of unfortunate circumstances”
Desborough denied both murders and told the jury it was a “series of unfortunate circumstances” the two men died on his land within a short space of time.
Prosecutors allege Desborough killed Mr Aquilino shortly after he was last seen alive in April last year.
The defendant maintained he had in fact found Mr Aquilino, who the court heard had a history of suicidal ideation, dead hanging from a tree on his land in May or early June.
And Desborough claimed his role was helping Mr Coleman – who had dismembered and burnt the remains alone – dispose of Mr Aquilino’s body in a stream.
He also denied murdering Mr Coleman in the early hours of June 4, and instead insisted he had returned to his cabin later that month and found him lying naked, face down and dead in a stream.
Worried about there already being one dead body on his land and that he was in possession of class A drugs, he dismembered Mr Coleman using an axe and buried the remains, the court heard.
Desborough accepted then spending their money on beer and drugs, but telling jurors: “They were friends, I got on well with them.”
The trial has heard that a search of Desborough’s cabin by police found a number of handwritten notes including one headed “Bug out list” and another “Hostiles”.
Among the notes were one which said, “I know I am a killer and ready to execute any predators” and another that said, “Take care of the remaining muppets”, with Mr Coleman’s name also listed.
The court also heard that Desborough had made plans to the leave the UK weeks before he was arrested.
Desborough, of Old Oak Woods, Lower Sticker, Cornwall, denies the murders of Mr Aquilino on a date between April 17 and July 7 last year and Mr Coleman, between June 2 and July 7 last year.
He has previously pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful burial of the two men’s bodies.
The jury has previously been told that while on remand at HMP Exeter facing these charges, Desborough strangled cellmate Steven Kempster, 65. He was later convicted of his murder.