Crimes of necrophiliac killer could be repeated, inquiry finds

Telegraph

3 days ago

Harrowing mortuary crimes committed by necrophiliac killer David Fuller, who abused at least 100 deceased women and girls, could be repeated, an inquiry has found.
The final report of the inquiry provoked by his crimes also found that 'current arrangements for the regulation and oversight of the care of people after death are partial, ineffective and in significant areas completely absent'.
The maintenance worker sexually abused the bodies of more than 100 women and girls aged between nine and 100 while employed at the now-closed Kent and Sussex Hospital and the Tunbridge Wells Hospital, in Pembury, between 2005 and 2020.
As the report was published on Tuesday, Sir Jonathan Michael, its chairman, said the inquiry was the first time that the 'security and dignity' of people after death had been reviewed so comprehensively.
He added that the weaknesses that allowed Fuller to offend for so long were not confined to Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, where he worked.
Sir Jonathan said: 'I have found examples in other hospital and non-hospital settings across the country.
'The security and dignity of people after death, do not feature in the governance arrangements of many organisations which are caring for the deceased.
'I have therefore come to the conclusion that the current arrangements for the regulation and oversight of the care of people after death are partial, ineffective and, in significant areas, completely absent.
'I have asked myself whether there could be a recurrence of the appalling crimes committed by David Fuller. I have concluded that yes, it is entirely possible that such offences could be repeated, particularly in those sectors that lack any form of statutory regulation.'
Fuller was already serving a whole-life sentence for the sexually motivated murders of Wendy Knell, 25, and Caroline Pierce, 20, in two separate attacks in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in 1987 when police uncovered his abuse in hospital mortuaries.
In November 2023 the first phase of the inquiry, which looked at his employer Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, found Fuller was able to offend for 15 years without being caught owing to 'serious failings' at the hospitals where he worked.
Sir Jonathan said the Government 'must' introduce statutory regulations to protect the 'security and dignity' of people after death.
There was 'little regard' given to who was accessing the mortuary, with Fuller visiting it 444 times in a year – something that went 'unnoticed and unchecked', the inquiry found.
In October last year, Sir Jonathan called for urgent regulation of the funeral industry, which he called an 'unregulated free-for-all'.
The interim review highlighted alleged incidents including a funeral assistant taking photos of a person being embalmed, of people being left to decompose or covered in mouldy sheets, and the sexual assault of a dead woman by a funeral director in the 1990s.
Warning that the system is fundamentally flawed, he found that owing to lack of regulation anyone could set themselves up as a funeral director, work at home and keep bodies in their garages if they wished.