Serial killer handed whole life sentence as police review deaths at homeless shelter which housed murderer

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James Desborough, 40, has been handed a whole life sentence over the murder of two men he lived with in a homeless hostel in Cornwall.

Desborough murdered Claudio Aquilino, 57, and Daniel Coleman, 43, before dismembering and hiding their bodies in woodlands last year.

The former builder is already serving a life sentence after he strangled his prison cellmate Steven Kempster at HMP Exeter while on remand awaiting this trial.

The triple murderer is now a serial killer having killed three men in separate incidents over five months.

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Their bodies were dismembered in an area of Sticker Woods, near St Austell, where Desborough lived in a wooden cabin.

It was there that police discovered deposited in a stream 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.

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.

Police have now revealed they will review the unsolved deaths of four others who were staying at the homeless shelter.

Detective Superintendent Rachael Bentley, head of the major crime investigation team at Devon and Cornwall Police, said enquiries into the four deaths at the Sandy Lodge Hotel were "ongoing".

"We don't believe there is a link at this time, but I said it's an ongoing investigation," she said.

"It's still got some final reviews to be done, so I may have more information in the future, but at the moment it's not believed to be now."

Ms Bentley said the police had attended each of the deaths and inquiries suggested natural causes and jurisdiction passed to the Cornwall Coroner. It was quite right that those coronial investigations paused when James Desborough was arrested for murder, she said.

"That's why the major crime investigation team commenced a review and conducted some further investigation because it was right to pause. Now James had committed a murder, so just to review those circumstances and those final investigation inquiries are ongoing currently.

"I said before there's no other information that's come into the investigation that suggests that he's linked to any of the deaths.

"We don't believe we're looking for any victims, but I do want to stress that the investigations are ongoing.

"They are going to be reviewed again now the trial has concluded, but at this time we are not looking at any other investigations, and at this time he's not a suspect in any other deaths."

A jury at Winchester Crown Court returned the unanimous guilty verdicts on Tuesday after deliberating for three hours and 15 minutes.

Desborough showed no emotion as the verdicts were read out.

After their disappearances, the powerfully-built Desborough, who is 5ft 10in and weighs nearly 18st, went on to spend their money on drugs and alcohol.

The trial heard Mr Aquilino and Mr Coleman had previously lived with Desborough at a homeless hostel, and the last time they were both seen alive was in his company.

Police found several handwritten notes inside Desborough’s cabin, 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.

Desborough also drew a series of concentric circles with Sticker Woods in the centre, and London and Benidorm listed at the outer point, which was entitled: “Kill Zone”, and the sub-heading: “Operational spheres”.

He had also made plans to the leave the UK weeks before he was arrested.

The father-of-one 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.

Desborough killed Mr Aquilino, who had addictions to drugs and gambling, shortly after he was last seen alive in April last year.

The defendant maintained he had in fact while high on ketamine found Mr Aquilino, who had a history of suicidal ideation, hanging dead from a tree on his land in May or early June.

And his role was helping Mr Coleman – who had dismembered and burnt the remains alone – dispose of Mr Aquilino’s body in a stream, Desborough 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,” he said.

“I was homeless, jobless, I had no money and addiction problems.”

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.

He accepted then spending their money on beer and drugs, but told jurors: “They were friends, I got on well with them.”

Desborough, of Old Oak Woods, Lower Sticker, Cornwall, had previously pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful burial of the two men’s bodies.