James Desborough, 40, has taken the stand in Winchester Crown Court to deny murdering two friends whose charred and dismembered remains were discovered near his woodland cabin in Cornwall. Claudio Aquilino, 57, and Daniel Coleman, 43, were last seen alive by locals in St Austell, but it is alleged that Desborough's involvement with their deaths goes far beyond a gruesome discovery.
Desborough admitted to the jury that he found Aquilino hanging from a tree on his land, claiming he was under the influence of multiple substances at the time. He stated, "I had lost all concept of reality. I can't remember what I was thinking. I made some bad decisions." Desborough also accepted disposing of both men's remains, concealing them in dense undergrowth near his cabin.
The court has heard that Desborough previously accepted responsibility for killing a cellmate while awaiting trial for these alleged murders at a prison in Devon. He rejected the prosecution's suggestion that the cellmate was killed due to snoring but failed to provide an alternative explanation.
Desborough described himself as an unemployed civil engineer, stating he had previously shared a hostel in Newquay with Aquilino and Coleman. He claimed to have been homeless at the time and struggling with addiction.
According to Desborough's account, he moved into the woodland cabin with Aquilino in early summer 2025, citing Aquilino's struggles with paranoia as a reason for their decision. Desborough then recounted finding both men's bodies in the same stream, stating he had no knowledge of Coleman's cause of death but felt "numb" by that point and used a hatchet to dismember his body.
Prosecutor Ahmed Hossain KC questioned Desborough about his involvement in three deaths within a short timeframe and whether he derived pleasure from killing. Desborough reiterated his denial of murdering his two friends, describing the cellmate's death as "out of character." He also dismissed a police-found note, which read, "I'm a killer and ready to execute any predators," as "creative writing" about a fictional character.