Murderer and “Necro Lord” Sentenced to Two Life Sentences

David Fuller murdered and raped two women in 1987, but it is his later crimes most people have found even more horrifying. Fuller became known as the “morgue monster” after he was charged with raping the deceased bodies held in the morgue in the hospital where he worked.

Though not all could be charged based on evidence, it is estimated that Fuller raped at least one hundred women and girls between the ages of nine and one hundred. Family members say their loved ones were “robbed of dignity in death.”

The Bedsit Murders

The murders of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce, dubbed the "Bedsit Murders,” were one of the longest unsolved double homicide cases in UK history.

25-year-old Wendy Knell’s body was discovered in her Guildford Road apartment on June 23, 1987, by her boyfriend. Blood had soaked into the bed, duvet, and pillows. Her blood-covered head was rested against a towel. Police found no signs of forced entry and the neighbors recalled hearing nothing out of the ordinary, despite the thin walls between them and her flat.

20-year-old Caroline Pierce was abducted on November 24, 1987, as she exited her home in Grosvenor Park. Neighbors heard screams coming from somewhere around the nearby cemetery around the same time. Her body was found forty miles away by a farm worker as he was driving his tractor around the edge of a field on December 15. She was floating in a water-filled dike near St. Mary in the Marsh. She was naked, except for a pair of tights.

Both of the women had been strangled and suffered blunt force trauma to the head. They had each also suffered injuries consistent with a violent, repeated sexual assault. One of the women had been raped both before and after death.

The Arrest

Using new DNA technology, police re-examined evidence in the two murders. In 2012, they announced that they had a full DNA profile for the killer, but they still did not know who that killer might be. They eventually found someone who was a close enough match to be a relative of the culprit. Using this information, they cross-referenced the relative’s information with the criminal data of all relatives who might be in their system.

This is where they got lucky. Prior to 2015, David Fuller had no criminal record. It was only because his hospital began requiring a background check on all employees that it surfaced that he had been arrested in Portsmouth on twenty-six counts of burglary in 1973.

If not for this, he would not have been added to their system. Fuller had omitted the arrest on his original application with the hospital, so there had been no record of it anywhere except Portsmouth prior to the arrest record coming over from Portsmouth.

By December 2020, Fuller was their prime suspect, and they had enough evidence to bring him in. Fuller was arrested at his family home in Heathfield, East Sussex on the morning of December 3, 2020. Detectives making the arrest said he didn’t look the least bit surprised but still denied any wrongdoing. He claimed he had no knowledge of either case or even the area where the women lived and were attacked.

New Evidence

It was his arrest for these two murders that led to the discovery of his other crimes. In a search of his family home in Heathfield, East Sussex, UK, police found over fourteen million images of his sexual offenses. Fuller also had video footage of him in sexual acts with corpses at the hospital where he worked.

Police found the videos and photos saved on his computer in folders titled “Necro Lord,” “Register,” “Deadly,” “Deadliest,” and “Best Yet.” Also included in the folders were names, numbers, and dates plus photos of a mortuary logbook he used to create a listing of what corpses he had defiled.

The Confession

Fuller told the detectives who interviewed him that he wanted to admit to the crimes but didn’t want to discuss them. He claimed he couldn’t remember when he’d first begun making such attacks. He claimed he didn’t derive any sexual pleasure from the assaults on any of his victims and that none of them were planned. Fuller said he only knew their names because he got them from the tags on their arms.

Afterward, he looked up some of the victims on Facebook. A forensic examination of his computer and hard drives showed his account linked to at least eight victims. It also revealed searches for “rape” and “murder,” along with images of naked, deceased women. There were also links to sites that had images of strangulation, slash wounds and dead women being abused.

Despite his confessions, Fuller pleaded not guilty, claiming grounds of diminished responsibility. He later changed his plea to guilty after a report issued mid-way through his trial refuted any claims of mental deficiency.

In addition to the two murders, he admitted to an additional fifty-one offenses. They include multiple counts of sexual penetration of a corpse, possession of extreme pornographic images involving sexual interference with a corpse, and indecent photos of minors.

Police say that Fuller escaped justice for thirty-five years because he presented himself to the public at large as a respectable middle-class family man. Those in his circle described him as a family man. Though he had been married three times, they saw him as a doting husband and father. If not for the DNA evidence that finally identified him in the double homicide and led to the discovery of his necrophilia, there is no answer for how long he would have continued his crimes against the dead and perhaps, more of the living.

The Trial

Because there are no CCTV cameras in the mortuary, Fuller’s own personal archives of his crimes became the primary evidence against him.

Prosecuting attorney Duncan Atkinson QC told the court that Fuller had been employed by the NHS Trust (National Health Services Trust) as an electrical maintenance employee in January 1989. He was promoted to maintenance supervisor in March 2002 and promoted again to estate supervisor in May 2011.

Atkinson further stated for the court:

‘While having access to the two hospital mortuaries, David Fuller systematically and repeatedly sexually abused the bodies of dead women and girls located there. He was generally the last person present at the mortuary at the end of the day. He had access via a swipe card and the evidence suggests he spent time with his victim beyond the filmed abuse of them. He used a personal digital camera to take pictures of and to film his activities. He then kept records of those activities on hard drives concealed in his home office. Police also found printed images of deceased women being sexually abused and it is possible to see it is the defendant abusing them.”

The trial was mid-way through when Fuller pleaded guilty to the murders and sexual assaults that took place in three separate hospitals located in Kent, Sussex, and Tunbridge Wells over the course of a decade. At his sentencing in Maidstone Crown Court, numerous members of the victims’ families gave impact statements.

Victim Impact Statements

Prior to sentencing, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb, allowed impact statements from many family members of the victims to be heard. One after one, the loved ones of the victims expressed their heartache and disgust at what Fuller had done.

The mother of a nine-year-old girl addressed Fuller directly: “David, you know who I am because you read the letter I wrote to my baby. You raped my baby. She couldn’t say no to the dirty 66-year-old man who was abusing her body. I feel guilty I left her there. I will not enjoy my life again. This unnatural sick pain I will never get over.”

The widower of a female victim told him: “David, when you are serving your time behind bars, think carefully about what you have done and thank your lucky stars that I’m not sharing a cell with you. You became a vulture, picking your victims from among the dead within the hidden world of hospital mortuaries which you were free to inhabit simply because you had a swipe card. The depravity of what you did reveals your conscience is seared. You will spend every day of the rest of your life in prison. Thank your lucky stars that I’m not sharing a cell with you.”

The mother of one of Fuller’s murder victims, Wendy Knell told the court how deeply her daughter’s death and sexual assault had affected her. She said he had cut down everything in her garden “because it shouldn’t be living.” She told those present that she would often find herself crying outside in the middle of the night without knowing how she had gotten there. She revealed that her friends avoided her house because she no longer cared how it looked. In her grief, she still says good morning and good night to a picture of Wendy she has in her home.

The father of an eighteen-year-old female told Fuller: “The only bit of comfort we held on to was how peaceful she looked when we said our goodbyes. This was destroyed when we got a knock on the door by the police to say she had been violated by a man my wife had grown up in fear of. Fuller has taken our little girl’s innocence and destroyed our souls. I am consumed with anger."

Sentencing

After ordering Fuller to stand for his sentencing, the judge told him: “You had no regard for the dignity of the dead. You have spent the last 45 years living an outwardly mild and ordinary life. You were described as a man good under pressure but while in seclusion you committed acts of the deepest darkness,” adding that Fuller “became a vulture, picking victims from among the dead. The depravity of what you did reveals your conscience is seared.”

Fuller was sentenced to two life sentences for the murders and rapes of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce. He received a sentence of only 12 years for sexually abusing corpses due to the limitations on sentencing for necrophilia.

Public Inquiry

Many of the victims’ families have demanded a public inquiry into how the NHS could have allowed such a heinous, ongoing attack to go on for so long without detection. They also want MPs to reform current necrophilia laws. Currently, it is an offense that carries a two-year maximum sentence.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has granted their request for a public inquiry. His statement on the day of sentencing is apologetic in tone:

“This is a profoundly distressing case. While nothing can undo the damage that has been done, David Fuller has today been brought to justice for his unspeakable crimes. I would like to reiterate my apologies to the friends and families of all the victims for what took place. We are taking action to ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a statement via tweet:

“Nothing can undo the pain caused by David Fuller’s unimaginable crimes, but I hope some comfort can be taken from the fact he will spend the rest of his life behind bars. My thoughts are with the family and friends of his victims, who have shown incredible bravery in court today.”

Other Potential Crimes

The crimes of David Fuller may not yet be answered for, according to Detective Chief Superintendent (DCS) Paul Fotheringham of the Kent Police. After Fuller’s sentencing, the police announced that they have gathered a team of investigators to sort through Fuller’s information and identify any other cold cases he might be responsible for in the area. DCS Fotheringham says they will be looking into all other cases of missing girls and women, rape victims, and murders that have taken place in Southeast England over the course of the next year. He has indicated that detectives intend to search every dark corner of Fuller’s life and convict him of any other offenses they can find.

While a monster is finally locked away where he can’t do further harm to the public, the families of his victims will continue to suffer the trauma he has caused for years to come. As Kent Police begin to delve further into Fuller’s past, we may well see him charged for other crimes that have taken place over the years.