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Corrupt sex killer David Fuller will spend the rest of his life in prison for murdering two women and sexually assaulting dozens of corpses in a hospital mortuary.
The 67-year-old hid his crimes for more than three decades until advanced DNA techniques identified him as the killer of two young women in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in 1987.
Only then, after his arrest a year ago, did investigators discover the true horror of his other sexual crimes.
Warning: This article contains descriptions that some readers may find disturbing
In the hospital where he worked as a general maintenance engineer, Fuller used a swipe card to gain access to all areas to enter the morgue and sexually penetrate the bodies of women who died in accidents, in the wards, or in the operating room.
Photo: Wendy Knell’s body was found in bloodstained bed sheets in her home Photo: Caroline Pierce was killed by Fuller – her body was found in a drain 40 miles from her home
Police believe he desecrated as many as 100 bodies, from a nine-year-old girl to a 100-percent woman – but they have only been able to identify 78 of his victims.
Fuller, an avid amateur photographer, filmed and filmed himself performing sexual acts and cataloged the photos in what one investigator described as his “diary of debauchery.”
He began recording his own despicable crimes in 2008, but has worked at Tunbridge Wells Hospital – and the Kent and Sussex Hospital that preceded it – since 1989, so investigators fear he may have assaulted hundreds of other bodies.
Kent Police had to recruit more than 300 family liaison officers from more than half of the UK’s forces to bring the news to the relatives of the deceased.
Fuller sat in the dock with his head bowed in court, which heard dozens of aphorisms from relatives of his victims.
2:45 David Fuller Arrested
Some have called for the resignation of Miles Scott, chief executive of the Maidstone Trust and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust that runs the hospital that hired Fuller.
Quiet and well liked by his colleagues, Fuller had unsupervised access to the morgue and attacked corpses in a section of the autopsy room uncovered by security cameras. He also worked late shifts which meant he was alone in the area for three hours a day.
How was Fuller arrested and how did he get away with his crimes for so long?
After Fuller pleaded guilty to all his crimes, in the middle of the trial last month, Health Minister Sajid Javid ordered a public investigation into the case and whether anything could be done to stop him.
Fuller, who has a son and a daughter, initially admitted to the attacks on the hospital and denied the murder – but pleaded guilty to the two murders on the sixth day of the trial at Maidstone Crown Court.
He also pleaded guilty to 51 other crimes, including 44 counts relating to 78 victims in mortuaries between 2008 and November 2020.
Photo: The sweeping scroll lane that Fuller used to get to the hospital morgue
9:22 Victim’s mother: “I’m screaming silently”
They included sexual penetration of a corpse, possession of extreme pornographic images involving sexual interference with a corpse and taking inappropriate photographs of children.
Fuller was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders with a concurrent sentence of 12 years for his other crimes.
Ms. Chema Group QC told Fuller that the murders of the two young women: “You have become a vulture, choosing your victims among the dead from the world of hospital mortuaries, who have been left free to inhabit just because you have a swipe card.”
After the sentencing, Mr. Javid said in a statement: “This is a deeply saddened case. While nothing can undo the damage that has been done, today David Fuller has been brought to justice for his unspeakable crimes.”
“I would like to reiterate my apologies to the friends and families of all the victims for what happened. We are taking measures to ensure nothing like this happens again.”
The first victim of Fuller’s crime was Wendy Knell, 25, manager of the SupaSnaps store in Tunbridge Wells where Fuller had his photograph taken to be developed.
Her boyfriend found her naked body in her bloodstained bed in the city in June, 1987. It was her father Bill’s birthday. She was sexually assaulted and strangled.
Her widowed mother, Pam Knell, 84, told Sky News: “I remember the phone call from the police. Then I had to tell my husband to go, to solve the problem. It was crazy. I don’t know.”
6:24 David Fuller: The Killer and the Vault
Long ago, she said, “I don’t remember. I’d find myself at the bottom of the garden in the middle of the night, alone, crying my eyes out.”
“Wendy was a sweet, lively girl and a good daughter. She had just started a new life, living far away from us, but she didn’t have much, did she?
“I never thought they would arrest him and I was afraid any man would come close to me. I hope he will be locked up for a long time. At least he wouldn’t be able to do that again if he was in prison, would he?”
Five months after Wendy’s murder, Fuller abducts 20-year-old Caroline Pierce, outside her cozy home. She was a waitress at a Buster Brown restaurant that he had visited.
Her body, naked apart from a pair of socks, was discovered by a farm worker in a flooded drain 40 miles away in Romney – an area Fuller knew from biking trips.
The murder squad investigated for several weeks, but forensic samples were poor and there was no proven DNA database to help identify the killer, the process was scaled back.
Photo: Fuller was finally captured by DNA technology
What became known as the ‘bed homicides’ remained unsolved, despite the improvement of a DNA sample from Wendy’s body by forensic scientists in 1999.
In 2019, re-investigation was bolstered by an improved DNA sample from Caroline’s tights, although the hack came from a sample of Wendy’s body.
Tests on the national DNA base, established in 1995, showed a close match with 90 people and gradually investigators were able to reduce the numbers and identify a fuller relative, and then Fuller himself.
When summoned by police at his home in Heathfield, East Sussex, he denied knowing the two women and the town of Tunbridge Wells, but was arrested and his DNA matched to the killer. One of his fingerprints matched up in blood on a plastic bag found in Wendy’s bed.
Mala, Fuller’s third wife, a hospital nurse, was in court in October with his son, brother and others when full details of his crimes were revealed. One of the women was trembling as she cried, and another left the courtroom visibly in grief.
1:14 Investigation into the death criminal announced David Fuller
Mala Fuller, 50, later told MailOnline: “I’m not with him. I couldn’t continue this relationship. I’m so upset even thinking about what was going on, I couldn’t live with it. You can’t imagine how distraught I am.” .
When police searched the couple’s home, they found 14 million photos and four million videos in his office and loft that took months to sort through. There were 100 hard drives, 2,200 floppy disks, 30 SIM cards and mobile phones, 1,300 CDs and DVDs, 34,000 photocopies, chips, negatives, and film rolls.
Mr. Fuller named the hard drives with the names of some of the victims and also kept a notebook in which he recorded their names. Some of the photos also revealed the time and date they were taken, which helped narrow down the potential victims.
“I would like to once again apologize for the harm done to families as a result of these horrific crimes,” Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells CEO Miles Scott said in a statement.
“We have been in contact with the affected families in recent weeks and our priority remains to provide them with any help or assistance they may need for as long as they may need it.
“As requested by the Secretary of State, we will work with families and the decision of the NHS to agree a compensation scheme without the pain and delay that would result from an individual claim action.
“We remain committed to full openness and transparency about the criminal activities committed by Fuller, as we support Sir Jonathan Michael’s investigation.
“We will make any further improvements recommended by the independent investigation and have conducted a risk assessment at our mortuary including reassuring ourselves against current HFA guidelines.”
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