David Fuller: Families 'left in the dark' ahead of inquiry

Lawyers for the families of 21 victims of hospital electrician David Fuller say they feel "angry and forgotten" ahead of an inquiry into his crimes.

David Fuller, 67, filmed himself abusing at least 100 bodies in two Kent hospital mortuaries over 12 years.

An independent inquiry has been launched to look at the offences and their "national implications".

The Department for Health and Social Care said it will be seeking relatives' views on its terms of reference.

A lawyer representing 19 of the victims' families, Ben Davey, said they had been "left in the dark".

Mr Davey, of Dean Wilson LLP, said: "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."

Fuller, of Heathfield, East Sussex, had worked at the Kent and Sussex Hospital from 1989 until it closed in September 2011.

He was then transferred to the Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury, where the offences continued until his arrest in 2020.

Investigators said Fuller would work late shifts and go into the morgue when other staff had left, using his swipe card.

He filmed and catalogued his offending on hard drives, floppy discs, DVDs and memory cards which were found in his loft and spare room.

His mortuary crimes came to light during his trial for the 1987 murders of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce, which he eventually admitted.

The inquiry will be split into two parts, with an interim report due to published early in the new year, before a final report looking at the national picture and wider lessons for the NHS.

Mr Davey said: "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 he had written to the Department of Health to request legal funding for the families who had "nowhere to turn to for advice" ahead of the inquiry.

He said he had raised the fact that commitments made in respect of families having input into the terms of reference of the inquiry "appear to be broken".

He said that, given promises about the families' involvement had not been kept, they wanted a full public inquiry "so that everything is dealt with in a transparent way".

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 ."

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