Convicted killer accused of murdering two other people tells court their bodies were found on his land due to a ‘series of unfortunate circumstances’

A former construction firm boss accused of murdering two men has denied killing them, saying the bodies were found on his land due to ‘a series of unfortunate circumstances’.

He said he “lost all grip on reality” while trying to hide the bodies of James Desborough, 40, Daniel Coleman, 43, and Claudio Aquilino, 57, including chopping one of them.

But he said he did not kill the two men and that due to ‘a series of unfortunate circumstances’ he found them both dead in the Paramoor Forest near his cottage in Sticker, Cornwall, and decided to ‘destroy’ their bodies.

Desborough, who admitted disposing of the bodies was ‘not the best decision’, is on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of murdering two men he met at a homeless shelter in Newquay.

The court was told Desborough, who was found guilty of murdering his prison cellmate, had already been convicted of one count of murder. Steven Kempster, 43, while awaiting trial into the deaths of Mr. Coleman and Mr. Aquilino.

He strangled Mr Kempster, 65, while he was on remand at HMP Exeter in September because he was disturbed by his loud snoring.

After the two men disappeared, police searched the woods around Desborough’s cabin for five months and found pieces of burnt bone in a stream.

Parts of Coleman’s body, including his torso, legs, and feet, were found in a nearby shallow grave.

The body of Daniel Coleman, 43, was found near Desborough’s woodland home on the outskirts of Stick, Cornwall.

The body of 57-year-old Claudio Aquilino was also found

The two alleged victims and Desborough lived together for a time in accommodation for homeless people and people with addiction problems in Newquay. He was last seen alive alongside Desborough.

Desborough, who testified for the first time in his defense, said: he simply dismembered Mr. Coleman’s body and threw Mr. Aquilino’s body into the river – although both men were found dismembered.

Desborough said his two friends, Mr Aquilino and Mr Coleman, were both ‘paranoid and talking about committing suicide’ and claimed he found Mr Aquilino hanging from a tree when he returned to the cottage one day in May last year.

He said he panicked because ‘Class A drugs and cannabis plants’ were found in the area and that he and Mr Coleman worked together to hide the body.

Later in mid-June, Desborough said he found Mr. Coleman “face down,” naked and “flattened” in the creek next to his home.

He said he had no idea how he died.

Desborough again did not call authorities and claimed that he drank a bottle of tequila and ‘didn’t think about it’ but ‘just kept going’.

He dismembered Mr. Coleman’s body and attempted to burn it.

He later continued to use the bank cards of the two men, whom he claimed he regretted but said it was like ‘dangling a carrot’ due to his drug addiction.

The prosecution challenged Desborough on the details of his statement.

When asked why he wrote ‘I am a murderer’ in his diary, Desborough claimed: ‘I was experimenting with creative writing and journalism.’

He used the same description for diary entries about being a murderer, a ‘kill zone’, a ‘bug out’ plan to destroy his phone and a list of people he knew under ‘enemies’.

He was also asked why he bought a new gas can if not to burn the men’s bodies, and said that squirrels in the forest were ‘addicted’ to gnawing on the cans to ‘get high’.

Desborough said: ‘I bought this to get petrol for my chainsaw because the squirrels were eating my petrol canisters. I didn’t have anything without holes.

‘They’re addicted to eating my gas cans. Squirrels would chew through the plastic and fly away. ‘I can’t tell you how many petrol cans I passed through in Paramoor Forest.’

He also admitted stealing the two men’s bank cards but denied this was to make it appear they were still alive, even though he texted people and left a note implying they were alive.

Prosecutor Ahmed Hossain KC put it to Desborough: ‘So you’re saying that it was an unfortunate coincidence that two people died on your land?

‘So is it a coincidence that these two people you know are depressed and have mental health problems?

‘You can change one little thing and kill it, right? You strangled your cellmate to death because you snored, right? He disturbed you by snoring, so you killed him, right?

‘You killed Daniel Coleman and Claudio Aquilino.

‘You thought the best course of action would be to dismember them and burn their bodies rather than calling the authorities.

‘You understand that by destroying, dismembering and burning their bodies, you have stopped any investigation into how they died.’

But Desborough claimed he found the bodies ‘under a series of unfortunate circumstances’.

Desborough told the jury: ‘[Mr Coleman] He was paranoid and talked about committing suicide.

‘This is a series of unfortunate circumstances.

‘I don’t think I was very well mentally and emotionally at the time. I was addicted to drugs, I was drinking; I think I lost all grip on reality.

‘I went downhill after the Claudio cover-up. It was obvious that I was under the influence of drugs at that time. It wasn’t the best decision I made there.

‘I wasn’t thinking, I just kept going; I didn’t realize that was what I was doing. I wasn’t thinking straight at the time and made bad decisions.

‘I’m not proud [stealing their money]. It was like dangling a carrot. I had no money, I was homeless and [had] addiction problems.

‘I wanted to leave the country long before this, I hadn’t killed anyone so that wasn’t the reason.’

Mr Hossain KC said: ‘You tried to hide their deaths and your part in it and this fiction is your last desperate attempt to deceive this jury.’

Desborough said: ‘I was drinking, doing ketamine, doing some speeding, smoking weed, anything I could get my hands on.’

The prosecutor asked him: ‘And because of all these drugs you don’t even remember what was wrong. Do you remember what you did?’

Desborough replied: ‘I don’t even remember what I did, no.’

The trial continues.