FORENSICS student Benjamin Day unlocked the door to his £40-a-night AirBnb and got to work lining the walls with plastic sheeting.
Inspired by fictional TV serial killer Dexter, he then lured sex worker Maria Saceanu to the rented house and stabbed her 78 times to death before trying to dismember the 24-year-old.
Last December’s horrific murder took place in an unassuming property on a very ordinary residential street in Tividale in the West Midlands being rented out by an AirBnb ‘superhost’.
And, while it’s an atrocity of extreme proportions, the reality is that AirBnbs have become a tantalising option for criminals – from organised crime gangs to sex attackers, drug dealers and even kidnappers.
Ex cops told The Sun how rented holiday homes have become the new favourite for drug kingpins.
And today we reveal the AirBnb’s that became the shocking scenes of recent crimes around Britain.
Former Met detective chief inspector Steve Gaskin said: “There was this thing known as cuckooing, where criminals used a vulnerable person and took over their property, and started dealing there.
“Well, the police are getting a bit cute to that, so now they’re looking at other ways of doing things and AirBnbs are a clever way to cover themselves.
“You can book one without seeing the owner and they don’t know what’s going on. They normally provide an internet link for booking as well, so everyone’s happy.
“It’s very easy for the criminal.”
The Dexter murder was the second AirBnb killing to come to court this month.
Failed AI student Deepak Sandhu, 24, bought knives in Asda then travelled to Earl’s Court in London where he stabbed Xiaoqing Ke, 39, after she refused his advances.
The university dropout was described at the Old Bailey as a fantasist who claimed to be a model and actor.
The cases come after a study revealed that AirBnb rentals in London are linked to higher crime rates with an increase in robbery, burglary, theft, anti-social behaviour and violence.
Unsuspecting renters across Britain have been stunned to find out their properties have been used as hideouts for serious criminal players. In many cases hosts themselves have exposed offenders.
In February this year, three men were jailed for an international kidnap plot after an AirBnb owner became suspicious of unexpected guests.
Anthony Andjole, 30, travelled from Amsterdam and met up with David Glen-Meade, 33, of Leicester, and Micheal McDonald, 54, of Doncaster, to kidnap a Hull man on a job for gangsters in Holland.
Cops found a pistol with seven bullets and a kidnap kit with a rope, ties, hammer and mask in bedrooms at the house in Goxhill, Lincs.
Their plot in January 2025 was only foiled because the property owner thought she was renting the place out to a young couple and became suspicious when she saw the men go in.
Andjole was jailed for 12 years, McDonald for nine and Glen-Meade for nine on conspiracy to kidnap charges.
In January this year, a man in his 20s was left fighting for his life after being shot in an AirBnb close to Manchester’s gay village while a woman was jailed for nine months after booking an AirBnb for her fugitive boyfriend.
Sonia Ashraf, 27, drove partner Harras Khan to a house in Nantwich and spent days with him after he and brother Anib Khan, murdered 22-year-old Taimoor Zaheer in a suspected drugs feud.
The brothers, aged 25 and 23, both of Handsworth, West Mids, were jailed for life after the 2018 killing.
Belgium’s national drug commissioner, Ine Van Wymersch, warned in August that short-term rentals were being used to stash drugs. In 2021, six Brits were arrested as part of an international cocaine smuggling ring after cops found £20million worth of drugs in rented properties in Antwerp.
British AirBnb owners have also found their homes used by organised crime gangs.
Martyn Linton, who ran Surrey Police force’s modern slavery and organised crime immigration unit until April this year said criminals use stolen identities to hoodwink AirBnb.
He said: “Criminals will book AirBnb accommodation for various uses like people trafficking, drugs, and prostitution.
“Whatever they are doing , the methodology is the same. They will stay somewhere for, say, a week then move into another property around the same location because they have established themselves in that area.
“By the time neighbours realise what’s going on and alert police to people coming and going, the smell of drugs, noise or whatever, and police get a warrant, these people have often gone.
“They will use fake IDs to book places. It’s been known for them to buy the identities of street drinkers and then open a bank account. They know this will make them more difficult to trace.
“As a company AirBnb is very receptive to helping when it comes to organised crime gangs but I’ve rarely met a landlord who has been happy when their door is smashed in by police.”
Properties in Swansea have been hit hard in the AirBnb stakes.
Ryan Dougherty, 43, and Neil Cook, 40, from Liverpool, were involved in a conspiracy to flood the streets of the city with heroin while staying at a number of rental properties.
When police swooped on one in 2022 they found half-a-kilo of the Class A drug worth around £49,000 wrapped in a tea towel.
Swansea was also targeted by gangsters who sent teenage dealers from Birmingham to sell heroin and crack cocaine while they stayed at an AirBnb in the city.
Sufiyan Ahmed, 19, and Daniel Mohammed were ‘trusted employees’ of an organised crime gang and used electric scooters to deliver drops.
In Teesside, dealer Jack Ford was last year jailed for 12 years for storing £84,000 of cocaine in kitchen cupboards at an AirBnb in Middlesbrough.
More than 250 miles away in Bristol, two men rented an AirBnb to wait for a delivery of cocaine from the Netherlands, hidden inside whey protein powder packages. Arron Collins, 35, of Bristol, was jailed for nine years and five months in 2021 while accomplice Bertram Fallon, 31, of Olveston, Gloucestershire, was handed six years and six months.
The National Crime Agency – Britain’s version of the FBI – has previously warned that AirBnb’s are being used by county lines gangs.
It warned kids being recruited to deliver drugs were being sent to stay in short-term lets.
There are no specific statistics on how often AirBnb’s are being used for nefarious purposes but a study released last year linked the rentals to increased crime rates in London.
Experts at Cambridge University’s institute of criminology found an estimated 10percent increase in AirBnb’s was associated with around three per cent more robberies in an area.
Professor Dr Charles C Lanfear told The Sun: “We don’t have the available data to link any specific property or any specific occupants, but instead looking as the number of AirBnb the concentration goes up in a neighborhood we find different types of crime tend to go up as well.
“What is unclear however is how these robberies and burglaries are related to the property – so it could be victimisation of the occupants, it could be just as a result of more foot traffic but they do seem to quite consistently – instrumental crimes tend to go up with the AirBnb presence and go down without it whether in the core of London or looking at the outskirts.”
The study, conducted between 2015 and 2018, has since been handed over to the London Mayor’s office.
AirBnb says there is no evidence to support claims that stays in short-term rentals are linked to higher crime rates and points out that misuse can happen in hotels and other holiday lets.
The study was also carried out before many of the site’s current safety measures which includes a ban on disruptive parties and new reservation screening technology.
The savage killing of sex worker Maria Saceanu is by far the worst crime to take place one of online booking service’s properties.
Student Benjamin Day spent hours prepping a room in a twisted ‘tribute’ to TV character Dexter Morgan, a forensic scientist who murders and chops up criminals before storing blood samples on slides.
Police were called to the AirBnb after the next renter spotted blood spatters at the house and called the owner.
Cops found a Dexter-inspired kill kit which included an apron, cleaning chemicals, microscopic slides, a pipette and heavy duty black bin bags.
Renters’ homes have also been used for sex crimes.
In 2024 Leo Faradoye, 34, of Nottingham, lured two teenage girls to an AirBnb in Manchester which he booked under the pretence of doing a photoshoot with them.
He was caught and jailed for seven years and four months after the suspicious owner called police. Officers found photography equipment had been set up in various rooms and a search revealed underwear, cash and white powder in a bottle.
Two years earlier, an ex counter-terrorism cop was jailed three years for spying on naked women in AirBnb’s in London, Brighton and Manchester.
Neil Corbel, then 40, concealed spy cameras in keys, glasses, phone chargers, air fresheners, tissue boxes and headphones in hotels and AirBnbs after posing as an airline pilot to book photoshoots with unsuspecting models and escorts.
In Croyden, graphic designer Diego Dellarovere raped an AirBnb host before promising to leave a “good review”
A court heard how Dellarovere. 43, attacked the woman after she welcomed him as her first-ever guest.
Rented houses have also been the target of robberies and New York rappers G4 Boys last month claimed their AirBnb was broken into by thieves ‘who gained access with a pin code’.
The hip hop duo, who boast 647k listeners on Spotify, took to Instagram to issue a £100k reward for information after luxury watches and jewelery was stolen from the London property. There is no suggestion owners were involved.
An AirBnb spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with all those affected by the horrific crime in Tividale last year, and we assisted the police in their investigation at the time.
“Criminal activity is extremely rare on AirBnb, and has no place on our platform. Last year, guests spent more than 23 million nights in AirBnb homes across the UK, the vast majority having positive experiences.
“We are committed to investing in community safety, which includes measures like identity verification and reservation screening, and we respond quickly when a concern is reported, working with police to support their investigations to find and bring criminals to justice.”
The site has a 24-hour safety line for hosts and guests and works closely with police to solve crime with the help of a dedicated team that includes former cops.
It also allows the use of doorbell and exterior cameras so owners can monitor security.
- Additional reporting by Kelly-Ann Kiernan