David Fuller: Sick corpse assaulter gets life in jail for murders

David Fuller, the depraved killer who admitted to sexually assaulting dozens of corpses and murdering two young women, will spend the rest of his life in prison after being sentenced today, 15 December. The killer thought he has gotten away with murder for over three decades until advanced new DNA techniques identified him as the killer of his victims.

The murders occurred in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in 1987, but it took until 2020 for him to be found and charged. Only then, during the interrogations relating to the killings, did the police discover his other horrific crimes.

Warning: This article contains descriptions that some readers may find distressing

David Fuller worked at Tunbridge Wells Hospital as the general maintenance engineer and had an all-area access swipe card, which he used to enter the morgue and sexually assault the bodies of women who had died at the facility. Police believe he did this to up to 100 bodies but can only identify 78 of his victims.

Fuller was a keen amateur cameraman and had photographed and filmed himself performing the sex acts and catalogued the images in his so-called “diary of debauchery”. He began his recordings in 2008, but he started work in Tunbridge Wells Hospital in 1989, so the fear is that he has assaulted hundreds more bodies.

Some of the victim’s families have called for the resignation of Miles Scott, Chief executive of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, which runs the hospital that employed Fuller. Fuller’s late shifts meant he was alone in the mortuary for long periods of time and he knew that some areas were not covered by security cameras.

A public inquiry was ordered by Health Secretary Sajid Javid after Fuller admitted all of his crimes midway through his trial last month. The inquiry is to determine if there was anything that could have been done to prevent the crimes from happening and continuing for so long.

While David Fuller initially admitted to the hospital attacks, he denied the murders charges brought against him, until the sixth day of his trial at Maidstone Crown Court. The families of the two young women, Wendy Knell, 25, and Caroline Pierce, 20, are glad he has been caught. Wendy’s widowed mother, Pam Knell, spoke to Sky News and said: “Wendy was a lovely, spirited girl and a good daughter. She had just started a new life, living away from us, but she didn’t have much of one, did she?

“I never thought they would catch him and I was frightened of any man coming close to me. I hope he is locked up for a long time. At least he won’t be able to do it again if he’s in prison, will he?”

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