David Fuller: Mortuary bosses of murderer who abused bodies showed ‘lack of curiosity around his actions’
Bosses at one of the hospitals where a double murderer was able to abuse dead bodies for 15 years showed a “persistent lack of curiosity” during his offending, an inquiry has found.
David Fuller, who was a maintenance worker, abused the corpses of at least 101 women and girls at Kent and Sussex Hospital and the Tunbridge Wells Hospital before his arrest in December 2020.
His victims ranged in age from nine to 100.
The government launched an independent inquiry in 2021 to investigate how Fuller was able to carry out his crimes undetected, with the first phase of the probe looking at his employer – Tunbridge Wells Hospital.
Fuller went into mortuary 444 times ‘unnoticed’ and ‘unchecked’
The inquiry found senior bosses at the hospital were “aware of problems in the running of the mortuary from as early as 2008”.
It found that he entered one mortuary 444 times in the space of one year “unnoticed and unchecked” and that deceased people were also left out of fridges and overnight during working hours.
The report also found there were “serious failings” at the hospital, with Fuller able to “offend undetected” while standard procedures weren’t followed.
The inquiry held interviews with more than 200 witnesses and reviewed more than 3,700 documents.
Based on the evidence heard, the inquiry team made 17 recommendations to “prevent any similar atrocities” happening again in the hospital.
The recommendations include:
• Non-mortuary staff and contractors should be accompanied when in the mortuary
• All regulatory standards must be met
• Deceased people should not be left out of fridges overnight or while maintenance is happening
• Only those with legitimate access can enter the mortuary
• CCTV cameras must be installed and footage reviewed regularly
• Record kept of who is accessing the mortuary and how often
• Trust board must review governance structures
‘Missed opportunities to question his working practices’
At a press conference in Westminster, central London, on Tuesday, inquiry chairman Sir Jonathan Michael said: “The offences that Fuller committed were truly shocking and he will never be released from prison.
“Failures of management, of governance, of regulation, failure to follow standard policies and procedures, together with a persistent lack of curiosity, all contributed to the creation of the environment in which he was able to offend, and to do so for 15 years without ever being suspected or caught.
“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.”
Sir Jonathan added that “mortuary staff were mostly unsupervised and left to their own devices” and “frequently did not follow policies and standard operating procedures”.
Fuller, 69, was given a whole-life prison term in December 2021 for the murders of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in 1987.
At the time of his sentencing in 2021, 78 of the mortuary victims had been identified.
But following Fuller’s conviction, the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate was able to identify a total of 101 victims.
He was sentenced again in December last year for the further abuse of 23 bodies.
Last year, the daughter of one victim described how she felt when she found out about the abuse of her mother and said: “The pain and emotional upset seared through my body like a knife.
“He took advantage of her helplessness in death where we were unable to protect her.”
An examination of Fuller’s computer hard drive at his home in Heathfield, East Sussex, revealed 818,051 images and 504 videos of his abuse as well as evidence of his “persistent interest” in rape, abuse and murder of women.
A second part of the inquiry was launched in July to review how people who have died are cared for around the country, focusing on safeguarding in private mortuaries, private ambulances and funeral directors.
The findings of this part of the inquiry are expected in 2024.
Heathrow was among a number of major airports across Europe hit by delays after a suspected cyber attack that targeted a service provider for check-in and boarding systems.
The “technical issue” affecting Collins Aerospace, which provides check-in and boarding services for various airlines, resulted in 14 flights being cancelled at Brussels Airport on Saturday, and several more being delayed at London Heathrow, Berlin, and Dublin, among others.
‘Very clever cyber attack’ cancels flights in Europe – latest
Passengers have reported being unable to check in online, instead queuing for hours for staff to deal with them manually at desks and departure gates, only to be told their flights are not taking off.
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Helen Steel, 49, left Dorset for Heathrow at 3am to travel home to Oslo, with her cat Thomas – but was “shouted at by staff” who told her she would not be able to fly until Sunday.
Describing the situation as an “absolute nightmare”, she said: “I’ve got an animal here, so I’m very concerned about his welfare.
“I’ve been shouted at twice and I broke down in tears because I was worried about him. None of us have had any information whatsoever. Whenever we ask ground staff, they shout at us.”
Ms Steel says she spent two hours in the queue on the phone to customer service and is now having to find a hotel to stay in overnight.
Sam arrived at Heathrow expecting to drop his girlfriend off for her flight to Rio de Janeiro – but was still at the airport seven hours later.
Sam has been at Heathrow for seven hours after his girlfriend’s flight to Rio was cancelled
When they arrived, it was “chaos everywhere”, he told Sky News, with “nobody seeming to know what was going on”.
The couple say they were not told about the cyber attack by airport staff, finding out about it online instead.
After queuing for three hours, they made it to the front, only to be told the plane was not taking off, he adds.
“Her flight was at 8.40am and it was held back until 10.15am. At 10.10am they sent everyone away and told them to contact the airline. But there are no representatives for any airlines whatsoever. It’s been a bit of a farce.
“Nobody knew where they were going – and they were sending people left, right, and centre.
“She’s going tomorrow now, but we’ve got to find a hotel, and no one is here to give us any hotel vouchers. They just give you a piece of paper and say ‘you’ve got to pay for it yourself’.”
Passengers wait for news at Heathrow Terminal 4. Pic: PA
‘Insane queues’ and ‘skeleton staff’
Passenger Tereza Pultarova waited around 10 hours at Heathrow after she arrived at 4.30am for her flight to Cape Town via Amsterdam.
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Tereza Pultarova had to wait 10 hours at Heathrow
“We were kind of stranded here because KLM wasn’t able to issue us boarding passes digitally, and requested us to collect them at the check-in desk,” she said.
“And then they told us that there is some sort of global issue with the system they’re using for check-in and boarding, and they have to do everything manually. So then they were checking in people at the rate of, like, one person per 10 minutes.
“I’m not exaggerating. It was just insane, the queue wasn’t moving. And then suddenly they said, ‘Oh, the flight will be departing, we’re closing the gate’.
Maria Casey was due to fly to Thailand with Etihad Airways – but had to wait three hours to drop off her luggage at Heathrow, with staff taking between five and 10 minutes to deal with each passenger.
Queues at Heathrow. Pic: PA
“The queues are terrible,” she told Sky News. “It was an absolute skeleton staff. Out of six of the desks there were probably two people”.
A Heathrow spokesperson advised people to arrive no more than three hours early for a flight and apologised for any inconvenience.
It is understood British Airways at Terminal 5 remains unaffected and is operating as normal.
Collins Aerospace said it is working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
“We have become aware of a cyber-related disruption to our Muse (Multi-User System Environment) software in select airports, the firm said in a statement.
“The impact is limited to electronic customer check-in and baggage drop and can be mitigated with manual check-in operations. We are actively working to resolve the issue and restore full functionality to our customers as quickly as possible.”
An elderly British couple who have arrived back in the UK after being detained in a maximum security Taliban prison are “delighted to be free”, their son has told Sky News.
Barbie Reynolds, 76, and her husband Peter, 80, were arrested in February after spending decades in Afghanistan, where they have dual citizenship.
They had been held without charge before being released from detention on Friday and flown to Qatar, where they were reunited with their daughter, before flying back to Heathrow Airport on Saturday.
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Freed couple reunites with daughter
The couple’s son, Jonathan Reynolds, told Sky News: “They’re just delighted to be free… they’re very excited to see their kids and grandkids and great grandkids, people they’ve just been wanting to catch up with and wondered if they’d ever see them again.”
Jonathan, who spoke to his parents from Wyoming in the US in a FaceTime call with some of his siblings, said: “I’ve seen photographs of them in hospital beds getting checked. I’ve seen them having full English breakfasts. So they’re jumping on that.”
Peter Reynolds enjoys breakfast after his release
He described some of the conditions his parents had been kept under in a “big maximum security prison with thousands of inmates”.
“My dad described being handcuffed or chained to other criminals. And, one point he had his chest hairs ripped out,” he said.
“He was hit in the head. And, then they were moved, to more of a safe house.”
Peter Reynolds gets hospital check-up
But Jonathan said his parents retained their British politeness even when calling him from a payphone in the prison yard, with his dad asking: “Is now a good time?”.
“It was totally, ‘Yeah, not too bad. Where’s the queue to get out of here?'”
The UK government advises British nationals not to travel to Afghanistan.
Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesperson at the Taliban government’s foreign ministry, said in a statement posted on X that the couple “violated Afghan law” and were released from prison after a court hearing.
He did not say what law the couple were alleged to have broken.
Sky correspondent Cordelia Lynch was at Kabul Airport as the freed couple arrived and departed.
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Sky’s Cordy Lynch speaks to released couple
Mr Reynolds told her: “We are just very thankful.”
His wife added: “We’ve been treated very well. We’re looking forward to seeing our children.
“We are looking forward to returning to Afghanistan if we can. We are Afghan citizens.”
The couple have lived in Afghanistan for 18 years and run an organisation called Rebuild, which provides education and training programmes.
They have been together since the 1960s and married in the Afghan capital in 1970.
An elderly British couple who were detained in a maximum security Taliban prison have arrived in the UK.
Barbie Reynolds, 76, and her husband Peter, 80, landed at Heathrow Airport on Saturday.
The couple were detained by the Taliban’s interior ministry on 1 February as they travelled to their home in Bamyan province, central Afghanistan.
They had been held without charge before being released from detention on Friday and flown to Qatar, where they were reunited with their daughter.
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Freed couple reunites with daughter
Richard Lindsay, the UK’s special envoy to Afghanistan, previously told Sky News it was “unclear” on what grounds the couple had been detained.
The UK government advises British nationals not to travel to Afghanistan.
Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesperson at the Taliban government’s foreign ministry, said in a statement posted on X that the couple “violated Afghan law” and were released from prison after a court hearing.
He did not say what law the couple were alleged to have broken.
Sky correspondent Cordelia Lynch was at Kabul Airport as the freed couple arrived and departed.
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Sky’s Cordy Lynch speaks to released couple
Mr Reynolds told her: “We are just very thankful.”
His wife added: “We’ve been treated very well. We’re looking forward to seeing our children.
“We are looking forward to returning to Afghanistan if we can. We are Afghan citizens.”
The couple have lived in Afghanistan for 18 years and run an organisation called Rebuild, which provides education and training programmes.
They have been together since the 1960s and married in the Afghan capital in 1970.
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