NEED TO KNOW
- David Fuller was arrested in December 2020 for sexually abusing more than 100 dead women and children, as well as the 1987 murders of two women
- Fuller’s crimes launched a nationwide inquiry into security systems at hospitals across Britain
- The inquiry released its findings Tuesday, announcing that it is “entirely possible” Fuller’s crimes could be repeated given a range of security flaws
David Fuller’s necrophiliac crimes shocked Britain when he was arrested half a decade ago, but a new inquiry spawned by his case says it could all happen again.
Fuller, 70, was convicted of sexually abusing more than 100 bodies of women and young girls through the access he had to a morgue via his job as a hospital electrician. He was also convicted of killing two women – Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce – in 1987.
With the convicted murderer and necrophiliac four years into a life sentence for his crimes, British officials launched an inquiry into the country’s hospital systems in late 2023 to ensure that such crimes could never happen again.
This week, however, the years-long inquiry announced its findings, saying it is “entirely possible” for Fuller’s crimes to be repeated given a range of security flaws at hospitals across the country.
The Telegraph reported that Sir Jonathan Michael, the chairman of the inquiry, announced the inquiry’s findings this week, making the statement that abuses like Fuller’s could very well be repeated given the amount of unsupervised staff members throughout the hospital system, a lack of security cameras in British hospitals, as well as a lack of staff precautions. In one case, according to Michael, a door to a mortuary had even been left open, allowing easy access.
“The security and dignity of people after death do not feature in the governance arrangements of many organisations which are caring for the deceased,” the inquiry chairman said, according to The Telegraph. “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.
Michael concluded: “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.”
Overall, the report, which was reviewed by PEOPLE, made 75 total recommendations for ways to prevent crimes like Fuller’s from happening again. “Its overarching recommendation is that there should be statutory regulation in place to protect the security and dignity of people after death, whichever setting or institution they are in,” the report says.
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While working at the Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Pembury, roughly 40 miles southeast of London, Fuller used his hospital key card to gain access to the morgue, where he sexually abused the bodies of more than 100 women and children between 2005 and 2020.
After he was arrested in 2020, investigators uncovered “millions” of photos and videos Fuller made of himself sexually abusing the corpses of more than 100 victims inside the computers and hard drives in his home office, according to BBC.
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The mother of one 9-year-old victim testified at his 2021 sentencing that the crime Fuller committed against her daughter “will haunt me forever and the rest of my life,” according to GBN News.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
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