A murder trial with grisly echoes of TV's Dexter is underway in the UK. Prosecutors say 40-year-old James Desborough, a fan of the Showtime series, killed two men in Cornwall, then dismembered and burned their bodies in woodland near his remote cabin outside St Austell, the Guardian reports. Winchester Crown Court heard that Desborough is accused of murdering 57-year-old Claudio Aquilino and 43-year-old Daniel Coleman sometime between April and July 2025, then using their bank accounts while faking travel plans to make it look as if one had gone to London and the other had set off on a long-distance walking trail.
After a monthslong search, police say they found about 1,900 burned bone fragments in a stream and parts of Coleman's body in a shallow grave, with an axe hanging from a nearby tree. The jury heard that Desborough told a forensic biologist searching his property that he "particularly enjoyed the dismemberment scenes on the TV series Dexter." Prosecutor Ahmed Hossain told jurors that if they weren't already aware of Dexter, a show about a police forensic analyst with a double life as a serial killer, it features the "dismemberment and disposal of dead bodies," Cornwall Live reports.
- "There are many, many people who are fans of the television program Dexter but when you consider that comment by Mr. Desborough together with the fact that two dismembered bodies were found on his land, that the comment takes on a particular significance," Hossain said.
Hossain said Desborough had lived with both men in a residence for people struggling with addiction issues and homelessness. He said Desborough was the last person seen with both victims. Notes recovered from Desborough's cabin allegedly referenced "bodies buried," a burner phone, a safe house, and plans to flee the UK. One note stated: "I know am a killer and ready to execute any predators." He has denied murder but admitted preventing lawful burial.
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