Latest news with #Pembury
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
Crimes of necrophiliac killer could be repeated, inquiry finds
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.
BBC News
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Dame Kelly Holmes reveals coming out fears to LGBT Sport Podcast
Dame Kelly Holmes has told a new podcast how living "authentically" as a gay woman has "opened up a whole new world" which she said feels a far cry from her days in the two-time Olympic gold medallist, who grew up in Pembury, publicly came out three years ago after decades of keeping her sexuality a closely-guarded began out of necessity due to the ban on homosexuality in the armed forces became Dame Kelly's way of being, she said. This pressure, as the 55-year-old explains on The LBGT Sport Podcast, took its toll before she reached a crossroads during the Covid-19 pandemic. "Covid became quite traumatic... I was internalising those thoughts of 'I don't want to live my life like this'," she told the first episode of the new BBC podcast presented by former boxer Nicola Kelly recalls thinking, while unwell with the virus, that if she were to pass away her family and friends would reflect on the "shame" of her not feeling able to live authentically."This one night, I had to reach out for help... it started the process of thinking 'I've got to somehow allow myself to feel free enough to live my life in the public eye authentically'," she to a place of comfort in being open was a gradual process, one which saw her speak to a psychologist for the first time - something she had avoided due to fears of being years of "second guessing words" and "filtering" conversations, Dame Kelly started to share her said: "I needed to explain why I couldn't come out because of the army, because a lot of people didn't know about the army ban... nobody knew that that was actually the underlying reason for not coming out."Living openly as a gay woman was something Dame Kelly said she had to lean into at her own someone who had previously avoided any form of Pride celebration, she found it "hard at first" to immerse herself in the LGBT now, Dame Kelly is "wearing every colour under the rainbow" and goes on stage at Pride events.
