A man already convicted of killing his cellmate has now appeared before a jury accused of two further murders. The revelation came not as fresh scandal but as cold evidence presented at Winchester Crown Court this month, forcing everyone in the room to confront what happens when the justice system places dangerous individuals alongside vulnerable ones.
James Desborough stands trial for the murders of Claudio Aquilino, 57, and Daniel Coleman, 43. Their remains were discovered in woodland near St Austell in Cornwall. He has admitted preventing the lawful burial of both men but denies killing them. Both victims had mental health issues and lived in supported accommodation in Newquay for people dealing with addiction and homelessness.
Police found burnt bone fragments believed to belong to one of the men in a stream. The torso, legs and feet of the other lay in a shallow grave with an axe nearby. These are not abstract statistics. They are the measurable consequences of lives cut short and bodies hidden from view.
Convicted killer placed with another inmate
Before this trial even reached its current stage, Desborough was convicted in March 2026 at Exeter Crown Court of murdering Steven Kempster. The pair had shared a cell at HMP Exeter while Desborough was on remand for the Cornwall allegations. Kempster was found dead in that cell at around 5.40am on 15 September 2025. The prosecution told the jury at Winchester that Desborough killed him by compression of the neck through strangulation.
That conviction is now before this jury. Prosecutors want them to understand the full picture of the man in the dock. Ahmed Hossain KC, opening for the prosecution, put it bluntly:
He killed them.
The sequence is as straightforward as it is alarming. Desborough faced serious charges. He was remanded into custody. Prison authorities placed him in a cell with another man. Within weeks that man was dead. The state failed to keep Steven Kempster safe. No amount of procedural language can soften that fact.