Relatives make more than 200 morgue abuse claims

More than 200 relatives of people abused by necrophiliac killer David Fuller have made claims for compensation.

Fuller, of Heathfield, East Sussex, was jailed in 2021 after a trial which heard he had filmed himself abusing at least 100 female bodies in two Kent hospital morgues over 12 years.

Family members of his victims have applied for compensation through a voluntary scheme run by Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust and the Department for Health and Social Care.

Miles Scott, chief executive of the trust, told a local council committee that NHS Resolution was working through the claims.

Fuller’s crimes came to light in December 2020 after he was arrested for murdering Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce in 1987.

A search of Fuller’s home revealed he had hoarded millions of indecent images and videos of children and extreme pornography on hard drives, floppy discs, DVDs and memory cards in his loft and spare room.

Two of the drives were hidden in a box, which was screwed to the back of a chest of drawers and placed inside a wardrobe.

On these drives officers found footage Fuller had recorded of himself abusing corpses in the morgues.

Folders, some labelled with the names of the victims, contained images and videos of him molesting female bodies, including three children, between 2007 and November 2020.

The offences were committed at mortuaries in the now-closed Kent and Sussex Hospital, and its successor, the Tunbridge Wells hospital at Pembury.

Mr Scott told Kent County Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee that some of the compensation claims had been resolved but a number were yet to be completed.

He said there was now CCTV coverage of the hospital mortuary’s corridors and CCTV which covered the fridge doors.

He added the cameras would not be able to capture the process of a post mortem.

Mr Scott said: “Some families have chosen that they still want support and we will provide that but we’ve heard very loud and clear that some didn’t want to keep hearing from us.

“There’s a range of views about the scheme and we’ve worked very hard to make sure that we are supportive of the families.”

The compensation scheme closed in April 2024.

Fuller was given two whole-life tariffs for murdering Ms Knell and Ms Pierce.

He was also sentenced to 16 years for abusing more than 100 dead women and children in the mortuaries.

The final report from an inquiry into his crimes will be published later this year.