Man who abused 100 bodies in UK mortuaries sentenced to life
LONDON (AP) — A double murderer who sexually abused more than 100 corpses in hospital mortuaries was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison.
David Fuller, 67, admitted during his trial last month that he murdered two women in separate attacks in 1987. Prosecutors said he had sexually assaulted the two women after killing them.
Police searches of Fuller’s home in connection with the murders uncovered millions of images of sexual abuse, including video recordings of him abusing bodies over 12 years at two hospitals in southeast England.
Fuller filmed himself carrying out the attacks on at least 102 bodies in mortuaries inside the now-closed Kent and Sussex Hospital and the Tunbridge Wells Hospital, in Pembury, where he had worked as an electrician since 1989. Identified victims included three children and others older than 85.
He evaded justice for decades and was arrested for murder in December 2020, following new analysis of decades-old DNA evidence.
Handing down the life sentence, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb told Fuller he was a vulture "picking your victims from among the dead.”
“The depravity of what you did reveals that your conscience is seared," she said.
“There is so much sorrow in this community because of what you have done," she added. “The offences committed in the mortuaries involved an astonishing breach of trust and invasion of privacy, that was repeated so much that it became habitual. You had no regard for the dignity of the dead.”
Britain’s government is setting up an independent inquiry into how Fuller went undetected, and officials are also looking into compensation for affected families. Hospitals across the country have been asked to urgently review and step up security, including closed-circuit camera coverage.
