CONVICTED KILLER DENIES MURDERING TWO MEN WHOSE REMAINS FOUND IN CORNWALL

James Desborough, a 40-year-old man accused of murdering two friends, told Winchester Crown Court that he discovered their bodies on his woodland property near St Austell and did not kill them. Desborough stated he found Claudio Aquilino, 57, hanging from a tree and Daniel Coleman, 43, naked in a stream on his land. He admitted to concealing both bodies in undergrowth near his cabin and using a hatchet to dismember Coleman's remains, but said he made these decisions whilst under the influence of ketamine, speed, cannabis and tequila.

Desborough, who described himself as an unemployed civil engineer, said he had lived at a hostel in Newquay with both Aquilino and Coleman before moving to the woodland cabin in early summer 2025. He told the court that Aquilino was paranoid and believed people were attempting to kill him. The defendant said he discovered Aquilino's body first and disposed of it in shock and panic, then found Coleman's body later that summer in the stream and had no knowledge of how Coleman died.

Desborough denies the murders of both Aquilino and Coleman but admits concealing their bodies. He also acknowledged in court that he killed a cellmate whilst in prison in Devon awaiting trial on the two murder charges, though he rejected the suggestion this occurred because the cellmate was snoring and did not provide an alternative explanation.