David Fuller: double murderer charged with more mortuary sexual abuse

A double murderer who sexually abused dead bodies in hospital mortuaries has been charged with 16 further offences.

David Fuller, 68, 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 corpses, including a nine-year-old girl, two 16-year-olds, and a 100-year-old woman, over 12 years before his arrest in December 2020.

Fuller, who was jailed for life in December 2021, will appear in court this week to face 16 further charges relating to sexual offences committed in a mortuary setting.

He pleaded guilty to murdering Knell and Pierce, as well as 51 other offences, including 44 charges relating to 78 victims in mortuaries between 2008 and November 2020.

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

Kent police said an investigation had led to evidence relating to a total of 101 victims in these mortuary settings.

The latest charges are connected to the 23 remaining victims, all of whom were deceased adult women, allegedly taking place between 2007 and 2020, the force said.

It added: “An extensive and complex identification process has led to 13 of these 23 further victims being formally identified.

“It has not been possible to establish the identities of the other 10 victims; however, the charges reflect offending against all of them.

“No evidence has been found of any further victims.”

Fuller will appear via video link at Medway magistrates’ court on Thursday.