David Fuller: Families of victims feel ‘angry and forgotten’ ahead of independent inquiry

Lawyers for the families of 21 victims of David Fuller have said they have been “left in the dark” ahead of an inquiry into his crimes.

The hospital electrician admitted murdering then sexually assaulting two women decades before carrying out dozens of sex attacks on corpses in mortuaries in two Kent hospitals.

Fuller, 67, filmed himself abusing at least 100 bodies over a period of 12 years inside the now closed Kent and Sussex Hospital and the Tunbridge Wells Hospital.

An independent enquiry has since been launched into how Fuller’s crimes went undetected which will supersede an investigation commissioned by Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.

Ben Davey, a lawyer representing 19 of the victims’ families, said his clients felt “angry and forgotten”.

He told the BBC: “They have not heard anything since 8 November as to what is going to be done in respect to the inquiry, and what level of input they are going to have, and when they are going to hear back.

“You would expect they would have offered a meeting in person by now. At the moment they are just left in the dark. They feel like they have been forgotten about and that the government is trying to sweep this under the carpet."

Mr Davey said his firm, and two other companies representing the other two victims, had written to the Department of Health to request legal funding for families seeking advice ahead of the inquiry.

They wrote: “None of the families that we represent have any experience of taking part in an inquiry. No one has explained to them what this means, or what part they may have to play in this. They are naturally overwhelmed by the process.”

Fuller pleaded guilty on Thursday to murdering Wendy Knell, 25, and Caroline Pierce, 20, in two separate attacks in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in 1987.

Identified victims included three children under the age of 18 and others older than 85 between 2008 and November 2020.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “The independent inquiry chaired by Sir Jonathan Michael will look into the circumstances surrounding the offences committed at the hospital and their national implications.

“The inquiry will help us understand how these offences took place without detection in the trust, identify any areas where early action is necessary, and consider wider national issues, including for the NHS.

“The inquiry will set out its draft terms of reference and seek the views of families on these.”