Electrician accused of double murder ‘sexually assaulted dead bodies in mortuaries’, court hears
An electrician accused of murdering two women more than 30 years ago sexually assaulted dead bodies in the mortuaries of hospitals he worked at, a court has heard.
David Fuller is standing trial at Maidstone Crown Court in Kent accused of the murders of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce in 1987.
Both women were found naked and had been struck on the head, asphyxiated and sexually assaulted after their deaths, the jury was told.
Wendy Knell was killed in 1987
Caroline Pierce was found dead five months after Ms Knell was killed
Fuller, 67, admits killing the women but denies murder, claiming he was suffering from “abnormality of mind” at the time, the court heard.
Opening the trial, prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC said Fuller had a “particular interest in the sexual assault of dead women”.
The defendant sexually assaulted corpses in the mortuaries of Kent and Sussex hospital and Tunbridge Wells hospital where he worked, the jury was told.
After his arrest in December, police uncovered hard drives and images hidden at his home which showed that over “an extended period of time” he used his access to the mortuary “to carry out acts of sexual penetration of female corpses”, the court heard.
The prosecutor said: “The defendant’s clear sexual interest in such bizarre and grossly repellent activity provides a unique and terrible link between him and the treatment of the bodies of those who were killed, and thus with Wendy and Caroline’s deaths.”
Fuller had previous convictions for burglary, and the prosecution suggested he used those skills to access the homes of 25-year-old Ms Knell and Ms Pierce, who was 20.
Mr Atkinson told the court: “There was no connection when they were alive between Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce – what links these two women is the circumstances and manner by which they died.”
Fuller had a ‘particular interest in the sexual assault of dead women’, the court heard
Ms Knell was found dead in her apartment in Tunbridge Wells in June 1987, before Ms Pierce was killed in the same town in November that year.
Neighbours described hearing screams from Ms Pierce’s flat on the night of her death.
Her naked body was later discovered in a water-filled dyke at St Mary-in-the-Marsh, near New Romney in Kent, in December 1987.
DNA evidence from both women’s bodies linked Fuller to their deaths, the court heard.
Fuller initially denied that he had killed the women following his arrest but, after learning of the DNA evidence, he changed his plea to that of one of diminished responsibility, the jury was told.
“His account has now changed,” said Mr Atkinson.
“He now asserts he was suffering from an abnormality of mind.”
The court heard there were reports of “prowler activity” in the lead up to both killings, with local women reporting a voyeur looking through their windows.
Mr Atkinson said that the prosecution’s case is that Fuller killed and sexually assaulted Ms Knell and Ms Pierce to satisfy his desire.
Fuller’s claim that he was suffering an “abnormality of mind” when he killed both women was an example of “his attempts to avoid the consequences of his actions by any means”, the prosecutor added.
Mr Atkinson said there was no evidence of Fuller suffering from mental health problems until 2010, when the defendant complained of feeling depressed over pain in his legs.
A judo Olympian has said her family is “devastated” after the discovery of body in the search for her missing brother.
Lubjana Piovesana, 28, appealed for help to find her younger sibling, Luis, 26, on Saturday. He had not been seen since the early hours of Friday morning.
A body was found in the River Frome near Napier Road in Eastville, Bristol, at around 6pm today, Avon and Somerset Police said.
Formal identification is yet to take place, the force added.
In a post on Instagram, Ms Piovesana wrote: “Hello everyone, Luis has been found.
“We are completely devastated but he has passed away.
“I am grateful for everyone’s support. And I am so sorry this happened.
“Luis was my little brother and loved by everyone. I wish he could have seen the love from everyone. He will be remembered by us all.”
The post was signed off with a dove emoji.
Luis Piovesana did not have any money or his mobile phone with him when he went missing, police said. Pics: Avon & Somerset Police
Mr Piovesana was last seen at around 3am on Friday at the Eastgate retail park, which is less than a 10-minute walk away from where the body was found.
He had travelled there by taxi from a venue in Little Ann Street, St Jude’s, a 10-minute drive away.
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The 26-year-old’s family spent the weekend searching for him, and asked people to check their sheds and gardens.
His partner, Laurin Bohler, said loved ones had travelled from Birmingham to help.
Mounted officers and police drones were also involved in the investigation.
Ms Piovesana competed for Team GB before switching to the Austrian team, and defeated British competitor Lucy Renshall in the women’s -63kg judo event at the Paris Olympics last year.
A man has been jailed for life for murdering his son’s girlfriend after she returned home from the school run.
Officers from Dyfed-Powys Police were called to an address on Bigyn Road in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, on 5 July last year.
Sophie Evans, 30, had sustained 72 separate injuries on the outside of the body, “all but three of them new injuries”.
Richard Jones, who is now 50, believed he was “being taken advantage of financially” by Ms Evans and his son, with whom she was in a relationship.
While the purpose of Jones’s visit was “purely normal”, he confronted her on that morning about his suspicions and Ms Evans’s reaction was such that Jones “lost [his] temper”.
He subjected Ms Evans to “gross violence” before ultimately strangling her and leaving the property to run errands, including ordering a new bank card and buying pastries from a bakery.
Richard Jones. Pic: Dyfed-Powys Police
‘Last time on their school run’
During sentencing on Monday, the defendant kept his head bowed for most of the hearing.
He will have to serve at least 20 years behind bars before he can be considered for release by the parole board.
Swansea Crown Court heard Ms Evans was the mother of two young children.
Passing his sentence, Judge Geraint Walters said Ms Evans “had just taken her two children for the last time on their school run” prior to the attack.
“She wasn’t to know that when she parted company with them that morning,” he added.
The court heard the Jones believed he was being defrauded by Ms Evans and his son.
“There is clear evidence, that in the days leading up to this, that you had begun harbouring thoughts that Sophie Evans and your own son were in fact financially scamming you,” he said.
“What precisely brought about that view is difficult to determine.”
Judge Walters said Jones “lost [his] temper when [he] didn’t get the answer that [he] thought [he] deserved”.
He added that, having lost his temper, the defendant “subjected [Ms Evans] to gross violence over a period of time, before you ultimately extinguished her life by strangulation”.
The court was told in evidence that at the time of the attack, Ms Evans was wearing only a bath towel.
‘The rock of our family’
In a victim personal statement, Ms Evans’s sister Kerry Quinlan told the court she was “the rock of our family”.
She said Ms Evans was taken from them in a “senseless and cruel act”.
“Words cannot express fully how much of a loss this has been to her children,” she added.
“When they cry themselves to sleep wanting their mum, she isn’t there and never will be.”
Ms Quinlan added that Jones had “taken everything from us, all in the most despicable way possible”.
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Ms Evans’s partner at the time, and the defendant’s son, Jamie Davies, said in a victim personal statement, read on his behalf, that they had both “trusted” Jones, and that Ms Evans had even been planning the defendant’s 50th birthday.
“The thought of having to live my life without Sophie causes me extreme pain and heartache,” he added.
Prosecuting, Michael Jones KC said the offence was aggravated by the defendant’s previous convictions and the fact Ms Evans was murdered in her home.
In mitigation, David Elias KC said there was a “lack of premeditation”.
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