David Fuller: NHS mortuaries record 30 security breaches in five years

Exclusive: Report of breaches comes as MPs demand public inquiry into murderer David Fuller, who sexually abused 100 corpses

Fuller, 67, remained at large for decades after killing two women (Kent Police)

There have been more than 30 serious security breaches at NHS hospital mortuaries in the past five years, The Independent can reveal.

The figures emerge as local MPs demand a public inquiry into the crimes of NHS electrician David Fuller, who sexually abused 100 corpses, including three children, over a period of 12 years.

The calls for a full inquiry have also been backed by Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth who said on Friday: “It is important the secretary of state listens to the concerns of the local MP and the families of those who have been involved, and establishes a full, swift public inquiry, so that lessons can be learned from this appalling incident and ensure this is never repeated.”

Fuller, aged 67, pleaded guilty on Thursday to the murders of two women, Wendy Knell, 25, and Caroline Pierce, 20, in two separate attacks in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in 1987. Detectives searching Fuller’s home found four million images of sexual abuse he had downloaded from the internet on computer hard drives.

They also found footage he had filmed of himself carrying out attacks on the bodies of women at the now-closed Kent and Sussex Hospital and the Tunbridge Wells Hospital, where he had worked since 1989.

Now it has emerged there have been 30 separate investigations into serious security breaches at NHS hospital mortuaries since 2018. These include unauthorised people gaining entry to the mortuaries where dead bodies are being stored.

According to the Human Tissue Authority, unauthorised people were found in the mortuaries at Colchester General Hospital, Essex; St Peter’s Hospital, in Surrey and at UCL Hospital in London during the 12 months to March this year. There was also a security breach at the Royal Stoke Hospital in Staffordshire.

As well as four security breaches in 2020-21, there were eight in the year to March 2020, 10 in the year to March 2019 and eight in the year to March 2018.

Earlier this year, The Independent reported on more than 530 serious incidents in NHS mortuaries including dozens of cases where the wrong bodies were released or organs lost.

The professional body for mortuary staff, the Association of Anatomical Pathology Technology, warned NHS trusts were often recruiting unqualified cheaper staff to work in mortuaries and has called for staff to be properly regulated.

John Pitchers, told The Independent in August: “The fact that the mortuary profession is not a profession regulated by statute – as other professions such as laboratory staff and paramedics are – makes the maintenance of these quality standards more difficult than it needs to be.

“For instance, there is no legal bar to hospital trusts or local authorities employing unqualified staff to work within mortuaries, alongside or in place of qualified staff, and we have seen a large increase of these staff being employed – often as a cost-saving exercise by underfunded organisations.”

In the wake of the Fuller case, hospitals have been ordered to urgently check their mortuary security and ensure they have CCTV coverage and access points controlled by swipe card systems.

Following Fuller’s guilty plea on Thursday, health secretary Sajid Javid said former NHS chief executive and doctor Sir Jonathan Michael would lead a review of what happened at the trust where the killer worked.

But local MPs have said this is not enough and are calling for a full public inquiry.

Conservative Greg Clark, MP for Tunbridge Wells, said he and local MPs had already written to the health secretary calling for a wider investigation.

He said the serious questions raised by Fuller’s attacks were beyond the resources and capability of the local NHS.

“The questions that are raised include local ones about how this was allowed to happen,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday.

“But there are also national ones as to whether national policy was good enough, was stringent enough, and whether it could have happened in other hospitals across the country.

"The scale of the inquiry, when you have over 100 victims, and very important evidence that needs to be taken from them and others, the local NHS trust doesn't have the resources and the administration to mount such an inquiry."

He added: "I think it's very important for the families.

"While they will be relieved that Fuller is now in jail and is likely to remain so for the rest of his life, they still need answers to the questions of how it was able to happen to their loved ones.

"The very least that we need to do to satisfy them, is that we can make sure it never happens again and that other families don't need to go through what they went through."

Under its existing regulations, the Human Tissue Authority requires that mortuaries are secure, with controlled access and CCTV covering key areas.

A spokesperson for the HTA said: “We are deeply shocked by these crimes and the distressing impact they will have on families and friends of the victims.  Protecting the dignity of the deceased is a guiding principle of our work at the HTA.

“Understanding how these crimes were able to take place is now critical, so any lessons can be learned for all those involved. The HTA is ready to advise the Secretary of State and contribute to this process, alongside the findings from the independent investigation into what happened at the Trust.”