A National Health Service (NHS) electrician has admitted to murdering two women in 1987 and the sexual abuse of at least 80 dead women, whose ages ranged from a girl aged nine to a 100-year-old, with police suspecting there may be hundreds of more victims.
David Fuller, 67, had originally admitted to killing Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, but denied murder due to “diminished responsibility”, only to change his plea to guilty on both counts of murder on Thursday on the fourth day of his trial at Maidstone Crown Court.
He had previously admitted to sexually abusing 78 corpses at two hospital morgues in the county of Kent over a period of 12 years, reports the BBC. Fuller had filmed many of the abuses. A date has not yet been set for his sentencing, though given the extent of his crimes he could be jailed for the rest of his life without parole.
The Heathfield, East Sussex, resident had worked as an electrician at National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in Kent, South East of England, since 1989. He had been at the Kent and Sussex Hospital until it closed in September 2011, before working at the Tunbridge Wells Hospital, which replaced it, where he continued assaulting corpses until his arrest in December 2020.
Evidence that led to the arrest for the more than 30-year murder cold cases came as a result of advances in DNA testing, which finally linked Fuller to the murders of Wendy Knell, 25, on June 23rd, 1987, and Caroline Pierce, 20, five months later.
Miss Knell was found murdered in her home by her boyfriend after he was concerned she had not turned up to work. Maidstone Magistrates Court had heard there was evidence that Miss Knell was raped either during or after her death.
Fuller abducted Miss Pierce from outside of her home on November 24th of that year before sexually assaulting and murdering her. While it is unclear what happened to the 20-year-old, neighbours said at the time they had heard screaming. Her nearly-naked body, which had been dumped more than 40 miles away in Romney Marsh, was found three weeks later by a farm worker.
Home Secretary Priti Patel responded to the admission of guilt, saying: “This is a shocking case. The sickening nature of the crimes committed will understandably cause public revulsion and concern.
“I would also like… to remember Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce, two young women who had their lives brutally taken away from them over 30 years ago. I hope their families can find some solace in seeing justice finally done.”
Pertaining to the acts of necrophilia, investigators said that Fuller would work late shifts, allowing him to go into the morgue after staff had left, sometimes abusing the same bodies “repeatedly”.
Investigators searching his home had discovered a total of 14 million indecent images, including of children, extreme pornography, and footage of the necrophiliac recording himself sexually abusing corpses in the hospital morgues. Much of the material was stored in hard drives, floppy discs, memory cards, and DVDs found in Fuller’s spare room and loft. Some of the footage of him abusing corpses came from as recently as November 2020, including him molesting the bodies of three female children.
Police said that around 20 victims could not be identified, but investigators believe Fuller could have abused hundreds of more corpses.
“The extent and scale of his offending is likely to be unprecedented in this country,” a police source told Sky News. The Crown Prosecution Service also said no British court had ever seen such an extent of necrophilic sexual offending before.
All NHS health trusts have been tasked with reviewing their postmortem activities.
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