A fan of the television serial killer show Dexter murdered two men before dismembering and burning their bodies in Cornish woodland surrounding the cabin where he lived, a jury has heard.

James Desborough, 40, allegedly killed Claudio Aquilino and Daniel Coleman and hid their bodies in the dense undergrowth close to his cabin near St Austell.

After killing them, he accessed their bank accounts and tried to cover his tracks by making it appear that one had gone to London and the other was walking a long-distance trail, Winchester crown court was told.

Police took five months to search the woods around Desborough’s cabin, discovering 1,900 burned bone fragments believed to have come the body of Aquilino, in a stream, the court heard.

Parts of Coleman’s dismembered body, including his torso, legs and feet, were found in a shallow grave nearby. An axe hung from a tree close to the grave.

Ahmed Hossain KC, prosecuting, told the jury that Desborough was present at times when police searched the woods and while chatting to a forensic biologist involved in the operation said he “particularly enjoyed the dismemberment scenes” in the programme Dexter.

Hossain said: “That is a series which involves scenes of dismemberment and disposal of bodies. There are many, many people who are fans of the television programme Dexter but when you consider that comment by Mr Desborough together with the fact that two dismembered bodies were found on his land, that the comment takes on a particular significance.”

When police searched his cabin, they found a note in Desborough’s handwriting in which he said: “I know I am a killer and ready to execute any predators”, the court heard.

They also discovered notes suggesting he was planning to buy a “ghillie suit” – a specialised camouflage garment and find a way to leave the UK. Notes also mentioned “bodies buried”, “new burner phone” and “safe house”.

Desborough denied murdering the two men between April and July last year but the jury heard he had admitted preventing their lawful burial.

Hossain said the alleged killer and his victims got to know each other when they spent time at a residence for homeless people and people with addiction issues in the Cornish resort of Newquay.

The prosecution said Aquilino, 57, and Coleman, 43, were last seen alive in the company of Desborough.

Hossain said: “He killed them, he dismembered their bodies, he attempted to burn and bury their remains to conceal what he had done, and then used their money whilst at the same time lying to those around him about where they had gone.”

The prosecutor said a substantial cleaver or axe may have been used to carry out the dismemberments and the scientific evidence suggested it had not been done in a frenzied or panicked way but was deliberate and precise.

Police began searching the woods in July last year after Coleman was reported missing. The operation took until October.

Before his arrest, Desborough allegedly faked a note purporting to have been written by Coleman in which he said he was setting off on the Saints’ Way, a walking trail in Cornwall.

Hossain said Desborough believed Coleman was aggressive towards a woman he himself had a romantic interest in. After allegedly killing him, he messaged the woman: “I can’t help but protect woman and children.”

The prosecution claims that Desborough went to London on the train, using Aquilino’s bank card, which the prosecution claims was a ploy make it appear the dead man had gone to the capital and vanished from there.

The trial continues.

The fund manager Geoff Wilson, a prominent public critic of the government’s tax changes, has deleted an inflammatory AI-generated video he reposted from a rightwing nationalist account portraying Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers taking money from white Australians and giving it to recently arrived migrants wearing Islamic face coverings.

Wilson said he had not watched the full video before sharing it or examined other accounts, some of whose content he reposted on Wednesday morning – which included content relating to the QAnon conspiracy theory – and deleted his posts after being contacted by Guardian Australia.

“Once the inappropriate associations were identified, I immediately removed the two posts,” he said.

The video posted by Wilson – a relative of the shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson – also includes AI-generated imagery of a protest march where demonstrators hold signs reading “diversity is not our strength” and “treason”, as well as images of a white family with blond children becoming homeless after leaving their house, which is later occupied by a triumphant south Asian family.

In other social media posts on X on Wednesday, Wilson also reposted content relating to the QAnon conspiracy theory, and from accounts regularly sharing anti-immigration content.

“We have only just begun. We will stop this insane CGT on all Australians businesses!” Wilson wrote alongside the reposted AI-generated video.

Wilson, the founder and chair of Wilson Asset Management, is a well-known investment manager and often quoted by media as an expert voice on tax and finance. His views are regularly highlighted by 2GB radio, the Australian Financial Review and The Australian newspapers, and Sky News television among others.

He is a major public critic of Labor’s contentious negative gearing and capital gains tax changes, calling them “economic vandalism” and an “aspiration tax”, and criticising the government for breaking promises not to change those settings. Wilson was also among the most vocal opponents of Labor’s proposed reforms to franking credits in 2019 and its 2025 changes to tax unrealised gains in superannuation.

Senior Coalition figures have quoted and promoted Geoff Wilson’s views on tax legislation in recent media appearances.

The AI video Geoff Wilson reposted on Wednesday morning depicts Albanese and Chalmers taking bags of money from homeless white Australians, which is then handed to people with dark skin and Islamic-style face coverings departing from planes.

It goes on to depict crowds of people of south Asian and Middle Eastern appearance appearing to rush across an airport tarmac. The video ends with images of an angry protest crowd led by a blond woman – featuring people wearing clothes bearing the words “resist” – holding up signs including “diversity is not our strength”, “treason” and “no world order”.

That clip was reposted from an account that states in its bio “Nationalist” and “White Lives Matter”, which has also previously posted Holocaust denial and other antisemitic claims.

Another post shared by Wilson included a video stating “And just like that, everyone who laughed at us, suddenly believes in Q” – a reference to the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon – from an account which regularly posts content about the QAnon conspiracy theory.

Contacted for comment, Wilson said he “shared material without fully checking all of its sources and content”.

“I posted the content as part of our campaign against the government’s damaging CGT changes to Australian businesses. The focus was to clearly articulate the campaign against this illogical new tax on Australian businesses has just begun,” he said.

“I unequivocally reject racism, antisemitism and conspiracy theories of any kind. The focus remains fully on opposing these insane tax changes that will clearly harm the Australian economy, aspiration, investment, small business and economic growth.”

He has since delated the AI-generated video and the post referencing QAnon.

Wilson’s post about “we have only just begun” is a reference to the song of the same name from American pop duo the Carpenters, a video of which he later also posted on X.

Albanese has previously rejected Wilson’s criticisms of the budget tax measures, saying he “has been a political participant for some period of time … Geoff Wilson has opposed everything my government has done.”

Labour MPs have criticised Kemi Badenoch after a fractious prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, in which she accused the education secretary of being a “spiteful class warrior”.

In a rare move, Badenoch was chastised by the speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, in the chamber of the House of Commons after she took the personal swipe at Bridget Phillipson before saying that Keir Starmer had been betrayed and had “400 knives stuck in his back”.

“Let us think about the language we use,” said Hoyle. “Because when we leave this chamber, don’t be surprised when constituents feel they can use the same language. Let us show a little bit more decorum and respect.”

Phillipson shook her head as the Conservative leader – referring to the Labour policy of applying 20% VAT to private school fees from the start of 2025 – said she had “taxed private schools to pay for more teachers, but the number of teachers has gone down” and had let Starmer down with “her incompetence”. Badenoch added: “It turns out appointing a spiteful class warrior as education secretary was a disaster.”

Starmer responded that Phillipson, who experienced childhood poverty growing up in the north-east of England, was an “incredible story of social mobility and success” and added: “I am so proud … It drives every single priority and value that she has.

“I would have thought the party opposite would recognise and understand some of that, but they’ve fallen so low, they don’t.”

Badenoch then turned on cheering Labour MPs, accusing them of “cheering so loudly with their 400 knives stuck in [Starmer’s] back”. When MPs reacted angrily, she said: “They don’t like it up them, but they know what I’m saying.”

After PMQs, sources reported a row broke out between Badenoch and Phillipson as MPs left the chamber. Labour sources said the technology secretary, Liz Kendall, said to Badenoch as they were leaving: “What you said was absolutely outrageous,” at which Badenoch turned to Phillipson and said: “You are spiteful. I will keep talking about how spiteful you are.”

An ally of Phillipson said Labour whips were referring the incident to the speaker, while the Labour MP Tulip Siddiq said she would make a point of order, a procedure used to draw attention to a potential violation of parliamentary rules.

“Badenoch has yet again disgraced herself,” said an ally of Phillipson. “She’s chosen to attack the only working-class woman from the north-east of England in the cabinet, because the Tories hate working-class people who do well. If standing up for the 94% of kids in state schools makes Bridget a ‘spiteful class warrior’, then she’ll wear it with pride.”

Conservative sources disputed this version of events and said Phillipson had “aimed a barb” at Badenoch as they were leaving the chamber, to which the leader of the opposition said: “I’ll fight you all the way. You’re destroying children’s lives.”

Asked by the Guardian if Badenoch would apologise for comments made in the chamber following the rebuke, the Tory leader’s spokesperson said “absolutely not”. A Conservative source said: “The fact is that the vindictive and class war tax hike on independent schools has forced the closure of several of them, disrupting children’s lives, forcing them into state schools in the middle of their studies, putting further pressure on the state school sector, and we are absolutely determined to oppose it all the way.”

Badenoch later posted on social media: “‘I grew up on a council estate’ is not an excuse for failure. You are sacrificing the future of generations of kids on the altar of your class envy – reversing even Labour’s academy reforms.”

Following the altercation, senior Labour figures defended the education secretary. David Lammy said the attack laid bare “something deeper about the direction of their politics”. The deputy prime minister said: “I’m proud that this Labour government has the most state-schooled cabinet in the postwar era – people who didn’t grow up with privilege, but earned their place through hard work.”

The Scotland secretary, Douglas Alexander, said Badenoch’s words “said a lot more about her than Bridget”. He added: “Like Bridget, I’m proudly state-schooled: we’re the most state-schooled cabinet in the postwar era. We’re not motivated by spite but by tackling poverty and extending opportunity.”