Double murderer who sexually abused corpses in hospitals will die in prison

A double murderer who sexually abused over 100 dead women and girls in hospital morgues will never be released from prison.

David Fuller, 67, beat and strangled Wendy Knell, 25, and Caroline Pierce, 20, to death before sexually assaulting them in two separate attacks in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in 1987.

He also filmed himself abusing at least 102 corpses, including a nine-year-old girl, two 16-year-olds and a 100-year-old woman, more than 12 years before his arrest in December 2020.

Fuller attacked his victims in the mortuaries of the now-closed Kent and Sussex Hospital and Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Pembury, where he had worked as an electrician since 1989.

A few days after his trial began at Maidstone Crown Court, he pleaded guilty to the murder of Ms Knell and Ms Pierce, having previously admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

He also pleaded guilty to 51 other crimes, including 44 counts related to 78 victims in morgues between 2008 and November 2020.

These included sexual penetration of a corpse, possession of an extremely pornographic image depicting sexual interference with a corpse, and taking indecent images of children.

Fuller was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders and to twelve years in prison for his other crimes.

Judge Cheema-Grubb QC told Fuller he had led “an outwardly mild and ordinary life” for 45 years.

“You were described as a man who performed well under pressure, while in isolation you committed acts of the deepest darkness,” the judge said.

“After killing two young women full of promise for life, you became a vulture, choosing your victims among the dead, in the hidden world of hospital morgues, where you were allowed to move freely simply because you had a magnetic card.

“The depravity of your act shows that your conscience is dulled and hardened.

“The sentence I am about to impose means that you will spend every day in prison for the rest of your life.”

The government announced an independent investigation to find out how Fuller managed to remain undetected and promised to consider the maximum penalty for necrophilia, which is currently two years in prison.

Ms Knell was found dead in her flat in Guildford Road on 23 June 1987, while Ms Pierce was abducted from outside her home in Grosvenor Park five months later, on 24 November.

Her naked body was discovered in a water-filled dyke in St. Mary-in-the-Marsh on December 15.

Fuller was arrested on December 3 last year for the so-called “Bedsit Murders” after a new analysis of decades-old DNA evidence linked him to the killings.

When officers searched his three-bedroom semi-detached house in the East Sussex town of Heathfield, where he lived with his family, images of him attacking corpses were discovered.

The names of 82 victims are known to police, but another 20 have not yet been identified and may never be.

Fuller sat in the dock with his head bowed as the court heard dozens of statements from his victims’ relatives.

The nine-year-old girl’s mother confronted Fuller in court and said she felt “guilty” for leaving her daughter in the hospital.

She said, “I have nothing, no closure. How can I make amends? How can I support her now and care for this little body that has been ruined and disrespected by this vile man?

“I am now standing up for her before him.

“It will haunt me forever and for the rest of my life.

A statement from the 100-year-old woman’s family said: “My mother should have been safe in the morgue, but she clearly was not.

“Something so terrible should never have been done to her.

“We have to live with this for the rest of our lives and I know we will all struggle with it.”

Defence lawyer Oliver Saxby QC said: “He has caused untold suffering and pain to many, many people and he knows it and he regrets it.”