'Distraught': Wife of bedsit killer reveals horror at husband's sick crimes

5 November 2021, 17:50

Several MPs and a women's charity have called for a public inquiry into how David Fuller was able to commit the sex attacks. Picture: Kent Police

By Megan Hinton

David Fuller's wife has been left feeling "distraught" after she discovered her husband killed two women and sexually abused the corpses of at least 99 women and children.

Loading audio...

Mala Fuller, 50, had lived with Fuller for 20 years at their home in Heathfield, East Sussex, but moved out after he was arrested for killing Wendy Knell, 25, and Caroline Pierce, 20 in December last year.

"I couldn't stay in that house knowing what he did and what went on there.

"I wanted to be alone and I want to live my life alone," she told the MailOnline.

The hospital electrician killed the young women in two separate attacks in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in 1987, and admitted the offences this week - more than three decades later.

Fuller's third wife, who is from Trinidad, told the reporter: "I'm not with him. I couldn't carry on in that relationship.

"I'm too upset to even think about what was going on, I couldn't live with it.

"You can't imagine how distraught I am."

Fuller targeted the bodies of a nine-year-old girl and a 100-year-old woman, who he abused between 2008 and November 2020 in two Kent hospital morgues.

The shocking crimes were only discovered after Fuller was arrested for the 1987 "bedsit murders" of Wendy Knell, 25, and Caroline Pierce, 20, in December last year following a DNA breakthrough.

The 67-year-old filmed himself carrying out the attacks at mortuaries, and investigators have so far detected 99 potential victims, of which they know the names of 78.

It can now be reported that ahead of his double murder trial, Fuller pleaded guilty to 51 other offences, including 44 charges relating to the 78 identified victims in mortuaries.

An independent review at the trust where Fuller worked is now under way, but eight MPs who represent constituencies in the surrounding areas are calling for a public inquiry into how he was able to carry out the attacks for so long.

Several MPs and a women's charity have called for a public inquiry into how David Fuller was able to commit the attacks.

Greg Clark, MP for Tunbridge Wells, where Fuller committed many of his mortuary crimes and two murders in 1987, said an investigation into whether national policy is "stringent enough" is "the very least" the Government needs to do to give grieving families closure.

The Centre for Women's Justice, which has been supporting a mother whose daughter's body was violated by Fuller at a mortuary, has spoken out about "the pain and the fury" of affected families as it joined calls for the inquiry.

A police helpline has been set up for distraught relatives who believe their loved ones could have been targeted after their death.

Police set up a contact centre number today on 0800 051 5270 as the true scale of Fuller's depraved crimes was revealed.

There are fears he could have sexually abused hundreds more bodies and police are expecting a deluge of calls from the families of the deceased.

In a statement following Fuller’s guilty pleas, Mr Scott said: "I want to say on behalf of the trust how shocked and appalled I am by the criminal activity by David Fuller in our hospital mortuary that has been revealed in court this week.

"And most importantly, I want to apologise to the families of those who’ve been the victims of these terrible crimes.

"I am confident that our mortuary today is safe and secure. But I am determined to see if there are any lessons to be learned or systems to be improved."

Meanwhile, the NHS has written to all its trusts asking for mortuary access and post-mortem activities to be reviewed against current guidance.

Health secretary Sajid Javid has also asked the Human Tissue Authority for advice on whether changes are required to existing regulations.