A hospital electrician in Britain will spend the rest of his life behind bars after receiving a full-life sentence for the murder and sexual assault of two women, plus the sexual abuse of scores of bodies in mortuaries.
David Fuller, 67, admitted strangling 25-year-old Wendy Knell and 20-year-old Caroline Pierce months apart in Kent, southeast England, in 1987.
During court proceedings, it was revealed Fuller went on to sexually abuse the bodies of at least 100 women and girls in hospital mortuaries where he was working.
The remains included those of three children under the age of 18 and women older than 85 between 2008 and 2020.
"The sentence I am about to pass means you will spend every day of the rest of your life in prison," judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb told Fuller at Maidstone Crown Court.
She told the court Fuller appeared to be living a "mild and ordinary life", but "in seclusion... committed acts of the deepest darkness.
"Having killed two young women who were full of the promise of life you became a vulture, picking your victims from among the dead, within the hidden world of hospital mortuaries which you were left free to inhabit, simply because you had a swipe card."
Police who searched his home found Fuller had filmed himself carrying out the attacks at the two mortuaries where he had worked in electrical maintenance from 1989.
The evidence found dated back to 2008 - when digital camera devices were becoming more widespread - but police believe the true scale of Fuller's offending may never be known.
In a statement on Twitter following sentencing, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "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."
British Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who has promised an independent public inquiry into the case, called it "profoundly distressing".
"While nothing can undo the damage that has been done, David Fuller has today been brought to justice for his unspeakable crimes," he added.
"We are taking action to ensure nothing like this ever happens again."
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust chief executive Miles Scott said in a statement: "I would like to apologise once again for the hurt that has been caused to families as a result of these appalling crimes."
