More than 200 relatives of victims abused by necrophiliac killer David Fuller make compensation claims
17 July 2024, 15:19 | Updated: 17 July 2024, 15:30
More than 200 relatives of victims abused by the necrophiliac and double murderer David Fuller have made claims for compensation.
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Fuller was jailed in 2021 after he was found to have abused the corpses of over 100 bodies of women and girls in two hospital morgues in Kent between 2005 and 2020.
The hospital electrician also murdered two women - Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce - in Tunbridge Wells in the 1980s.
Fuller, 69, was given two whole-life tariffs for the two murders as well as a 16-year sentence for abusing bodies.
His shocking crimes related to necrophilia only came to light after he was arrested when police made the disturbing discovering in his home.
A search of Fuller's property by police revealed millions of indecent images and videos of children as well as extreme pornography on hard drives, floppy discs, DVDs and memory cards.
Two of the drives were hidden in a box screwed to the back of a chest of drawers and stuffed inside a wardrobe.
On these drives, officers discovered sickening footage Fuller had recorded of himself molesting corpses.
Read more: 'Morgue monster' David Fuller has jail sentence lengthened for necrophilia
Now, 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, said NHS Resolution was working through the claims.
He told a council committee some of the compensation claims had been resolved but a number were yet to be completed.
Kent Police bodycam shows raid of David Fuller's home
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.
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An independent inquiry found there were "missed opportunities to question Fuller's working practices" at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, which manages the hospitals.
The inquiry found that hospital managers were aware of "problems" in the running of the mortuary from 2008.
Bosses had "little regard" to who was going into the mortuary with Fuller going in 444 times in a year, with his visits going "unnoticed and unchecked".
The inquiry made 17 recommendations to prevent "similar atrocities" taking place.
Those include putting in CCTV cameras in the mortuaries, making sure non-mortuary staff are always accompanied and staff do not leave corpses out of fridges overnight.
Read more: Families of dead women abused by mortuary monster David Fuller will get six-figure NHS payouts
Read more: 'Distraught': Wife of bedsit killer reveals horror at husband's sick crimes
'Shock and horror'
Inquiry chairman Sir Jonathan Michael said Fuller's crimes "had caused shock and horror across our country and beyond".
He told reporters on Monday: "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 added that it was now time to work out who "should be held responsible" for the "serious failings".
"Had the measures that I am recommending been in place when Fuller was working at the trust, I firmly believe his offending could have been prevented," Sir Jonathan said.
The mother of one of the victims - Azra Kemal - said the findings showed hospital bosses' conduct was an "absolute disgrace".
Nevres Kamal previously told LBC: "It's bad enough losing your loved ones but to then be be told that they were abused in the mortuary on numerous occasions and it could have been prevented - I mean where do you go with that."
Mother of Fuller victim shares details of law proposals
