Twisted copycat Dexter killer tried to mutilate intercourse employee inside £30-a-night Airbnb

Warning: Distressing content Benjamin Day, 20, developed an obsession with US TV show Dexter and will now be sentenced for his crimes after her murdered a sex worker in a £30 per night Airbnb

A twisted murderer inspired by TV show Dexter killed a sex worker in a £30-per-night Airbnb and then tried to mutilate her body inside a sinister ‘kill chamber’ he built.

Benjamin Day kitted out the room-for-hire to replicate the chilling crimes depicted in Dexter. The 20-year-old dedicated ‘hours preparing’ his savage killing of Maria Saceanu and ‘copied things he had seen’ in the series, including trying to sever her limbs, laying down plastic sheeting, and preserving a microscopic slide of her blood as a ‘trophy’.

Day even ‘changed into his Dexter clothing‘ – a khaki T-shirt with buttons halfway down, before his victim arrived at the premises in Oldbury, reports Birmingham Live. Officers subsequently discovered a disturbing ‘shopping list’ on his phone, compiled by Day a month beforehand that contained knives, scissors, a mask, an apron, disposable gloves, duct tape, a staple gun, cleaning chemicals, a pipette, duffle bag, latex gloves, number plates and ‘Hefty bags’ – what ‘Americans use to describe heavy duty black bin bags’.

The murderer had ‘planned to get away with it’ but he was exposed when his ‘meticulous’ scheme ‘all went wrong’ and he sliced his own hand while trying to ‘dismember’ Ms Saceanu’s body. Day then ‘quite deliberately’ travelled 20 minutes from the location and rang 999 himself while his victim’s unclothed body remained on the floor of the kill room, intending to return and ‘finish the job’ after his ‘nasty’ injury was treated.

Day, of Yeadon Close, Redditch, Worcestershire, had pleaded not guilty to murder between December 19 and 22 last year. However, he reversed his plea in a dramatic courtroom turnaround on the second day of his trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

His admission on Tuesday, October 6, followed the prosecution’s opening of the case and presentation of evidence to the jury. Mr Justice Bryan KC informed Day that a pre-sentence report will now be compiled before his sentencing in December.

Jurors were told how the programme follows character Dexter Morgan, a forensic scientist employed by a police department who is a serial killer and ‘knows how to’ conceal what he has done. Prosecutor Rachel Brand KC stated ‘there is no dispute from the defence in this case that his fascination with that programme, Dexter, played a part in his actions leading up to the night that Ms Saceanu was killed’.

It was expected that Day would argue self-defence, maintaining that he prepared the room to record a ‘tribute’ to Dexter for posting on TikTok. Ms Saceanu, who was from Romania, was contacted by Day shortly after 9.30pm on Saturday, December 20 last year. She had registered her details on a site called Vivastreet — a platform used by sex workers to connect with potential clients.

Ms Brand told the jury: “We don’t suggest that this case is about sex. There is no evidence, actually, that any sexual contact took place between Day and Ms Saceanu on the night that she was killed.

“The fact is, because she was a sex worker, she was available. She was a person who could be hired and therefore lured to a particular place with the pretext that she was going to meet a client.”

The victim was captured on CCTV upon her arrival approximately 50 minutes later in her vehicle, footage the prosecution described as the ‘last time she was seen alive’. Day — who was 19 at the time and residing with his parents — had been inside the double-bedded room he had booked from around 5.30pm, ‘preparing’.

He then killed her ‘within a very short time of her arrival’. Following the killing, Day cut away Ms Saceanu’s clothing using scissors and stripped her of her jewellery before disposing of them in a bin bag ‘ready for disposal’.

University of Worcester student Day sustained injuries while attempting to dismember Ms Saceanu’s body and ‘bound up his own hand with gaffer tape’. He was caught on CCTV departing the Airbnb at 12.30am on Sunday, 21 December, walking ‘some distance’ before contacting the emergency services roughly 20 minutes later.

At 1.05am, Day messaged the Airbnb landlord requesting an extension to his booking of one week, or at a minimum two or three days, before officers turned up approximately five minutes afterwards.

Ms Brand informed the jury: “He said that the injury to his hand had been caused when he had been bitten by a fox or a wild dog. The police found that explanation to be curious and it was also curious that he had bound up his own hand with gaffer tape.”

Day was transported to Russells Hall Hospital by paramedics and was placed under arrest there at 3.42am on Saturday, December 21. Ms Saceanu sustained 78 wounds, inflicted by knives, numerous of which are believed to have been caused after her death.

It is understood she died ‘as a result of wounds to her neck’ which damaged her carotid artery or jugular vein. Ms Brand stated: “However, despite such wounds, she may not have collapsed immediately and it’s significant that there were a number of wounds to her hands which were consistent with efforts to protect herself, to defend herself.”

There were ‘attempts to dismember her body’, evidenced by injuries including those to her elbow, wrist and knee, the court was told.

In a statement presented to the court, the Airbnb property owner explained the accommodation featured three rooms available for hire – two double rooms and a single room.

The standard charge was £30 for a single guest and an extra £10 for an additional guest. Via Airbnb, Day reserved for two guests and paid £40 – plus commission and vat, totalling £46.78.