Nocturnal 
A forensics student has pleaded guilty to murdering a 24-year-old woman inside a makeshift “kill room” he built in an Airbnb, which he had modelled on the hit US drama Dexter.
Benjamin William Day, 20, a University of Worcester undergraduate, changed his plea on the second day of his trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, as first reported by the BBC and LBC. He had previously denied murdering Maria Saceanu, who was originally from Romania and lived near the Airbnb property in Tividale, West Midlands.
Day was 19 at the time of the killing in December last year. The court heard he had become “fascinated” with Dexter, a series about a forensic technician who moonlights as a vigilante killer, and that his actions were those of a “copycat”, prosecutor Rachel Brand KC told jurors, according to the Mirror.
How the kill room came together
Prosecutors said Day spent several hours preparing the rented room in Barncroft Road from around 5.30pm, having arranged to meet Ms Saceanu, who worked as a sex worker, after contacting her through a website using a burner phone, LBC reported. She arrived at around 10.20pm after replying to a text message he sent her that evening.
Ms Brand told the court Day had “planned this murder in some detail” and intended to dispose of the body without leaving a trace, but that “it all went wrong and he was caught”, as reported by the Mirror. The court heard he had compiled a list of items on his phone a month earlier, including knives, a mask, a staple gun and heavy-duty plastic bags.
After the attack, Day cut his own hand and abandoned attempts to dismember the body. He is said to have walked away from the property, discarded the burner phone, and called 999 at around 12.50am claiming he had been attacked by a dog, according to the Daily Mail. Jurors were shown footage of officers treating his hand injury, which was wrapped in duct tape, in Dudley.
While Day was being treated in hospital, another guest staying elsewhere in the same Airbnb returned and spotted a trail of blood, alerting the host, who called West Midlands Police. Officers forced entry to the locked bedroom and found Ms Saceanu’s body. Day was arrested at his hospital bed wearing a khaki-style top similar to one worn by the show’s title character.
The defence had been expected to argue self-defence, with Day claiming he had set up the plastic-lined room to film a Dexter “tribute” video for TikTok. That account was not put to the jury after he changed his plea. Day, who had completed a first year in journalism before switching to applied biology and forensics, appeared to smirk as he returned to the dock to enter his guilty plea, LBC reported.
What happens next
Day was remanded in custody following his guilty plea. Mr Justice Bryan agreed to delay sentencing for further psychiatric assessments, with defence barrister Gurdeep Garcha KC telling the court a pre-sentence report would assist, given Day’s age and lack of previous convictions.
Sentencing has been scheduled for 4 December 2026 at Wolverhampton Crown Court. Prosecutors told jurors they could not offer a psychological explanation for why Day carried out the killing, only that his fascination with Dexter “played a part in his actions” leading up to that night.
