Monster in the Morgue: The David Fuller Case
How a hospital electrician evaded detection for decades while committing horrific crimes against the dead
Quick Facts
On 3 December 2020, police arrested David Fuller at his home in Heathfield, East Sussex. The 66-year-old electrician stood accused of two murders committed 33 years earlier—crimes that had haunted investigators for decades and would ultimately expose a horrifying pattern of systematic abuse that extended far beyond those initial killings.
Fuller had worked as an electrician at both Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells and Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Pembury. His employment provided him with access to hospital morgues—access he exploited in ways that would horrify the nation when details emerged.
**The Murder Cases**
In 1987, two young women—Wendy Knell, 25, and Caroline Pierce, 20—were murdered in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Both were strangled and sexually assaulted in their homes after Fuller broke in through back windows, a method consistent with his earlier criminal history of "creeper burglaries" committed in 1973 and 1977.
DNA evidence collected from the crime scenes in the 2007 cold case review proved crucial. Investigators identified that the same perpetrator had committed both murders, but it wasn't until 2020—when Fuller's DNA was obtained—that the match was confirmed.
**The Morgue Horrors**
What emerged during the investigation was far more disturbing than the two murder convictions alone. Over a 15-year period spanning 2007 to 2020, Fuller had sexually abused the bodies of over 100 deceased women and girls, ranging in age from 9 to 100 years old, in the hospital morgues where he worked.
The scale of abuse became apparent when police discovered hidden hard drives behind a false wall in Fuller's Heathfield home. These devices contained over 14 million images and nearly 1 million pieces of evidence documenting his crimes.
