'Bedsit murderer' charged with further sexual offences
David Fuller was working at a mortuary at the time of the allegations
A double murderer from Sussex who sexually abused dead bodies in hospital mortuaries has been charged with 16 further offences.
68-year-old David Fuller, formerly of Heathfield, beat and strangled 25-year-old Wendy Knell, and 20-year-old Caroline Pierce to death before sexually assaulting them in two separate attacks in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in 1987.
He also filmed himself abusing corpses, including a nine-year-old girl, two 16-year-olds, and a 100-year-old woman, over 12 years before his arrest in December 2020.
Fuller, who was jailed for life in December 2021, will appear in court this week to face 16 further charges relating to sexual offences committed in a mortuary setting.
He pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Knell and Ms Pierce, as well as 51 other offences, including 44 charges relating to 78 victims in mortuaries between 2008 and November 2020.
Fuller attacked his victims in the mortuaries of the now-closed Kent and Sussex Hospital and the Tunbridge Wells Hospital, in Pembury, where he had worked as an electrician since 1989.
They included the sexual penetration of a corpse, possessing an extreme pornographic image involving sexual interference with a corpse and taking indecent images of children.
Kent Police said an investigation had led to evidence relating to a total of 101 victims in these mortuary settings.
The latest charges are connected to the 23 remaining victims, all of whom were deceased adult women, allegedly taking place between 2007 and 2020, the force said.
It added: "An extensive and complex identification process has led to 13 of these 23 further victims being formally identified.
"It has not been possible to establish the identities of the other 10 victims; however, the charges reflect offending against all of them.
"No evidence has been found of any further victims."
Fuller will appear via video link at Medway Magistrates' Court on Thursday.
He faces:
- Ten charges under section 70 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. These relate to offences involving 10 identified victims;
- Two further charges under section 70 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. These relate to offences involving three unidentified victims;
- Two charges under section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. These relate to the possession of extreme pornography in connection with 13 identified victims;
- Two further charges under section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. These relate to the possession of extreme pornography in connection with 10 unidentified victims.