Forensics student admits 'Dexter-style' murder in 'kill room'

A forensics student who was obsessed with US TV drama Dexter has pleaded guilty to murdering a sex worker in a "kill room" set up inside an Airbnb.

Benjamin Day, 20, lured Maria Saceanu, 24, to a plastic-lined room where he stabbed her to death at the property in Tividale, West Midlands, on 21 December last year.

He was arrested wearing a Dexter-style khaki top after inflicting 78 knife wounds on his victim and starting to dismember her body.

Day, who was 19 at the time of the killing, changed his plea to guilty on Tuesday after discussions with his barrister on the second day of his trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

He will be sentenced on 4 December.

Opening the case on Monday, prosecutor Rachel Brand KC said the defendant spent several hours preparing the so-called kill room at rented premises in the Tividale area of the West Midlands, around 20 miles from his home in Redditch, Worcestershire.

Day had been expected to claim self-defence, asserting that he set up the room to film a "tribute" to Dexter which he could post on TikTok.

Earlier, the prosecutor said Day contacted Ms Saceanu - a sex worker originally from Romania - through a website using a burner phone.

'It all went wrong and he was caught'

Ms Brand said of Day: "We say that the evidence shows he planned this murder in some detail. He lured Maria Saceanu to a room that he had rented via Airbnb.

"He had prepared himself to kill her. He had planned to dispose of her body without leaving signs of what had happened and he planned to get away with it.

"But it all went wrong and he was caught."

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The trial heard that after causing 78 knife wounds to Ms Saceanu, Day abandoned the "gruesome" task of dismemberment because he had cut himself.

He then left the property and walked some distance before calling 999 and asking for help.

Body-camera footage showed Day told police that he was attacked by a wild dog or fox before he was arrested after being taken to a hospital.

(c) Sky News 2026: Forensics student admits 'Dexter-style' murder in 'kill room'