KILLER’S FOREST LAIR Inside twisted ‘Dexter’ killer’s off-grid shack of horror – with bloody axe, handwritten notes & grisly bone discovery

Detectives unearthed a chilling stash of notes exposing Desborough’s meticulous escape plans, complete with scribbled references to a “shuffle bag liner” and “new disguise”

 

AT first glance, James Desborough’s off-grid woodland cabin seemed inconspicuous – but inside it was the scene of a chilling campaign of dismemberment and murder.

The eerie lair in Newquay, was the site of two brutal murders by vile Desborough, who held a fanatical obsession with TV serial killer Dexter.

 

Built on inherited land without planning permission, the 40-year-old’s makeshift cabin was found by cops littered with bloodied weapons and eerie handwritten notes.

It was here the serial killer lured two innocent men he met at a Newquay homeless shelter into the shack of horrors to meet a gruesome end.

Desborough murdered Daniel Coleman, 43, and Claudio Aquilino, 57, in cold blood before chopping up their remains in Paramoor Woods, near Sticker.

The sick fiend then burnt their bones and buried them in shallow graves.

 

 

Vile Desborough also stole their money and used Daniel’s cash to treat himself to a “large beef roast” after chopping him up.

Hanging from a nearby tree branch, shocked cops also discovered an axe bearing his victim’s DNA.

Inside the shack itself, detectives unearthed a chilling stash of handwritten notes exposing the full depth of Desborough’s murderous mindset.

One said: “I know I’m a killer, ready to kill and execute any predators.”

 

 

Others laid out meticulous escape plans, complete with scribbled references to a “shuffle bag liner”, “bodies buried”, “new disguise”, “new burner phone”, and a “safe house”.

Another included “detailed travel plans and intent to leave the UK”.

The scribbles further revealed intent to undergo plastic surgery to alter his appearance before fleeing the country, possibly to South-East Asia.

The brazen serial killer – who was sentenced to a whole life order at Winchester Crown Court today – had even struck up a conversation with a forensic biologist on site as they searched for missing individuals.

 

 

 

Desborough admitted he was a fan of the hit TV drama Dexter – about a secret serial killer who chops up his victims – and boasting that he “particularly enjoyed the dismemberment scenes”.

The grim scene in the woods marked the culmination of a descent into madness by a former civil engineer and father who slowly descended into madness.

Desborough developed a furious temper as a “control freak” angry at the world, and amassed a violent criminal record including a prior conviction for grievous bodily harm.

The terrible chain of events had escalated on a spring day last year when Desborough marched up to Cornwall’s county hall in Truro and pelted the building with dozens of supermarket eggs.

 

It was a drink and drug-fuelled outburst over being homeless and jobless, prompting him to text a pal: “If I’m going to get nicked, might as well round the charges up.”

In the months that followed, he rounded them up in the most horrific fashion imaginable by committing three murders.

Desborough killed Claudio, who was last seen drinking with him on April 18, 2025, and Daniel, between June and July.

He had previously fallen out with Daniel over his relationship with Hannah Cresswell, a woman with whom Desborough had engaged in an affair.

 

 

Desborough once warned him in a chilling message: “Don’t take me for a mug, boy.”

Around the time Claudio vanished on May 30, 2025, Desborough messaged a friend describing himself as “absolutely bloodthirsty real hostile fuming spitting feathers”.

Prosecuting counsel Ahmed Hossain KC described to Winchester Crown Court how a search party eventually uncovered Mr Coleman’s torso, legs, and feet in a shallow grave.

Just 18 metres away lay the shallow grave of Claudio.

Cops discovered 1,900 burnt bone fragments – belonging to Claudio – at a stream nearby.

A “piece of flesh” – also from the victim – was in the water, and a search party also found “two pieces of unburnt scapula”.

While awaiting trial for these horrific killings, the evil fanatic went on to strangle his 65-year-old cellmate Steven Kempster to death at HMP Exeter – a crime for which he was already serving a life sentence.

The five-month police search of the woodland – codenamed Operation Honeyfall – involved more than 700 officers, scientists, dog teams, soil experts, and anthropologists drawn from six different forces.

Searching through chest-deep water in hot, jungle-like, and boggy terrain, officers sometimes smelled burning and heard digging in the night as Desborough frantically tried to destroy evidence.

His shack of horrors also had a hollowed-out “stash tree” for drugs.

Throughout the search, before there was sufficient evidence to remand him in custody, Desborough brazenly kept a beady eye on the operation.

Jurors at Winchester Crown Court rejected Desborough’s claim that he had merely “lost all grip on reality” as he was sentenced.

The sick killer had claimed he stumbled across the men already dead on his land before trying to hide them, with Desborough convicted of murdering both Daniel and Claudio.

He had already admitted to preventing the lawful burial of their bodies.

But the Dexter fanatic was then found guilty of murdering Daniel and Claudio.

When Desborough was awaiting trial for their murders, he also killed his cellmate Steven Kempster at Exeter Prison.

Mr Justice Saini described the circumstances of sentencing a man for two murders while already serving life for a third prison killing as “unique”.

Desborough was sentenced to a whole life order at Winchester Crown Court today

In a further grisly twist, cops revealed today that the unexplained deaths of four people who were living at a homeless shelter at the same time as the serial killer are being reviewed.

Desborough lived at Sandy Lodge Hotel in Newquay, Cornwall, which was accommodation for people suffering with homelessness or addictions, between December 2024 and April 2025, during which time two men and two women died unexpectedly.

Detective Superintendent Rachael Bentley, head of the major crime investigation team at Devon and Cornwall Police, told journalists that the investigation into the four deaths at the hotel was “ongoing”.

She added that after “final reviews” there could be “more information in the future.”

Detective Superintendent Bentley previously said the murders of Claudio and Daniel were “callous and cold-blooded”.

She said: “Both men were vulnerable and trusted James Desborough as their friend.

“Desborough not only brutally murdered both men, but then savagely desecrated their bodies, seeking to hide the evidence of his crimes. In doing so, he denied both men of dignity and their families of the opportunity to say goodbye.”