It found that “current arrangements in England for the regulation and oversight of the care of people after death are partial, ineffective and, in significant areas, completely lacking”.
The first phase of the inquiry found Fuller, 70, was able to offend for 15 years in mortuaries without being suspected or caught due to “serious failings” at the hospitals where he worked.
Phase 2 of the inquiry has examined the broader national picture and considered if procedures and practices in other hospital and non-hospital settings, where deceased people are kept, safeguard their security and dignity.
What were Fuller’s crimes?
Fuller 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.
During his time as a maintenance worker, he also 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.
Phase 1 of the inquiry found 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.
Sir Jonathan’s second phase of his report looks into how we care for the dead across England.
Report analysis by Jason Farrell
After an initial glance, his interim report already called for urgent regulation to safeguard the “security and dignity of the deceased”.
On publication of his final report he describes regulation and oversight of care as “ineffective, and in significant areas completely lacking”.
David Fuller was an electrician who committed sexual offences against at least 100 deceased women and girls in the mortuaries of the Kent and Sussex Hospital and the Tunbridge Wells Hospital. His victims ranged in age from nine to 100.
This first phase of the inquiry found Fuller entered the mortuary 444 times in a single year, “unnoticed and unchecked”.
It was highly critical of the systems in place that allowed this to happen.
His shocking discovery, looking at the broader industry – be it other NHS Trusts or the 4,500 funeral directors in England – is that it could easily have happened elsewhere.
The conditions described suggest someone like Fuller could get away with it again.
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