How was David Fuller caught? Necrophiliac killer s*xually abused 101 bodies in hospitals because of NHS’ "failings," inquiry finds

Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of s*xual assault and necrophilia. Reader's discretion is advised.

David Fuller, one of the most notorious n*crophiliacs and killers in the criminal history of the British, reportedly s*xually abused 101 dead bodies of women aged between nine and 100 in his working tenure for Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS trust between 2005 and 2020.

He admitted murdering Wendy Knell in 1987 and Caroline Pierce after five months of killing Ms Knell. David Fuller escaped detection successfully for three decades. Over 15 years, his n*crophiliac behavior remained unnoticed by the hospital authorities, marking it as a "serious failing" of NHS, an independent inquiry was found.

(Left) Wendy Knell and (Right) Caroline Pierce, young girls killed and abused by David Fuller (Image via Sky News)

In 2019, a better DNA sample obtained from the tights of Ms. Pierce helped investigators revisit and reexamine a case. However, the significant breakthrough progress in the investigation came from a DNA sample taken from Ms. Knell's body.

The advanced DNA technique played a crucial role in identifying David Fuller as the bedsit murderer, which eventually led the police to know about his n*crophilia. Later, in December 2020, he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.

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NHS failings led to David Fuller s*xually abusing 101 women corpses:

David Fuller used his job as a hospital maintenance worker to access mortuaries and abused dead bodies of women. An independent inquiry found that Fuller could offend for 15 years in morgues and remained unsuspected due to the "serious failing" of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, where he worked.

Reportedly, he s*xually abused 101 women who died in an accident or operation theater and were kept in a mortuary for further investigation or burial. He used his access and s*xually penetrated the women corpses aged between nine and 100, according to Sky News.

To protect the dignity of bodies, there were no CCTV cameras in the post-mortem room. Also, the doors of the fridges where bodies were kept were unlocked in the post-mortem room. This gave him easy access to all corpses. Speaking to Sky News on November 28, 2023, the inquiry's chair, Sir Jonathan Michael, said,

"Over the years, there were missed opportunities to question Fuller's working practices. He routinely worked beyond his contracted hours, undertaking tasks in the mortuary that were not necessary or which should not have been carried out by someone with his chronic back problems. This was never properly questioned."

In 1987, his first victim was a 25-year-old girl named Wendy Knell. She was the manager of a SupaSnaps store in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Fuller went there to get his photographs developed. Later in June, her boyfriend found her dead and naked on a bloody stained bed of her bedsit. She was s*xually assaulted and was strangled to death.

In the same year, five months after Ms. Knell's murder, David Fuller allegedly abducted a 20-year-old girl, Caroline Pierce, who was a waitress at Buster Brown's restaurant, sourced through Sky News. A farm worker discovered her body in a flooded drain 40 miles away in Romney. She was naked, apart from a pair of tights.

The investigators could not get a solid DNA sample. Thus, the operation was set back and remained unsolved for over 30 years.

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How was David Fuller caught?

In 2019, the investigators found an enhanced and better DNA sample from Ms. Pierce's tights, which reopened the investigation. The case strengthened when a similar sample was found in Ms. Knell's body.

When investigators checked a national database, they found a list of around 90 people who closely matched the DNA they had. The detectives then narrowed down this list and identified a family member of a person named Fuller. They eventually located and identified Fuller himself by further investigating, connecting him to the case.

The advanced DNA technique helped police to find David Fuller as the "bedsit murderer" and n*crophilic. He was arrested in December 2020, and initially, he denied killing the two women. However, his DNA matched with the killer's DNA in blood on a plastic bag found in Ms. Knell's bedsit.

During his sixth trial in 2021, David Fuller admitted to killing Ms. Knell and Ms. Pierce. Reportedly, he confessed to s*xually abusing 101 women while working for Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS trust between 2005 and 2020.

Later, when police raided his house and found more than 800,000 images and 500 videos of his abuse, they found more than 14 million CDs and floppy discs of s*x offenses. This gave a piece of evidence to the police of his "persistent interest" in abuse, rape, and killing of women.

In December 2021, David Fuller was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment after admitting to 44 charges related to 78 women and girls in mortuaries between 2008 and November 2020. Also, his sentence had no possible chance of parole, meaning he would be in prison till death.