James Desborough sentenced, police review shelter deaths

A serial killer convicted of murdering two men he met at a homeless shelter and then strangling his cellmate in prison will be sentenced on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, as police announced a review into four other unexplained deaths at the same shelter. James Desborough, 40, was found guilty on Tuesday, July 28, of murdering Claudio Aquilino, 57, and Daniel Coleman, 43, in Cornwall last year.

Desborough, a former builder, had lived with the two victims at the Sandy Lodge Hotel in Newquay, a facility for homeless people and those with addiction issues. The men disappeared in 2025, and Desborough subsequently used their bank accounts to spend money on drugs and alcohol while claiming they had left Cornwall. Their dismembered remains were later discovered in woodland near Sticker, where Desborough lived in a cabin. Prosecutors told Winchester Crown Court that Desborough dismembered the bodies, attempted to burn and bury the remains, and spent the victims' money.

While on remand for those murders, Desborough strangled his 65-year-old cellmate, Steven Kempster, at HMP Exeter, reportedly because he was irritated by the man's snoring. He was convicted of that murder in March and is...