British Police Release Fuller Report on Sexual Acts with Corpses
Revealed to Have Visited Morgue 444 Times Annually on Average
As crimes targeting corpses stored in mortuaries in the UK continue to occur, the case of a man who sexually exploited over 100 bodies over 12 years is being brought back into the spotlight. On the 15th (local time), British broadcasters such as BBC and the daily newspaper The Guardian reported that cases failing to uphold the dignity of the deceased are increasing, citing the case of David Fuller (70) to highlight the need for stricter regulations on lax funeral procedures.
Earlier this year alone, criminal activity was discovered involving 35 corpses in the UK, prompting police investigations. The case of David Fuller, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2021 for abusing corpses and recording the acts on video, has been revisited in relation to these crimes. Police also recently released a report on the Fuller case, strongly criticizing that "funeral practices have not changed even after this incident."
David Fuller, featured in the report, hails from Heathfield in East Sussex, England. From 2007 over a span of 12 years, he frequented two hospital mortuaries and sexually exploited the bodies of more than 100 women. Among his victims were the corpses of a 9-year-old girl and a 100-year-old woman. Exploiting the fact that the hospital mortuaries where he worked as an electrician had no closed-circuit television (CCTV) for respect towards the deceased, he chose these locations as his crime scenes.
Fuller's crimes were uncovered in 2020 when he was arrested by police as a suspect in a past murder case. Investigations revealed that he had raped and murdered two women in their twenties in 1987. Although the original investigation failed to identify the perpetrator due to the investigative methods at the time, a reinvestigation over 30 years later exposed Fuller’s crimes.
During a search of Fuller’s home, police found materials on his computer indicating sexual abuse of corpses. The computer contained 818,051 photos and 504 videos. Police estimated that Fuller visited the mortuaries an average of 444 times per year. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2021 for the murder of the two women and received an additional 16-year sentence for sexually exploiting over 100 corpses.
Experts at the time concluded that Fuller suffered from necrophilia, a type of paraphilic disorder, and called for enhanced security measures in mortuaries. However, similar crimes have continued to occur since then.
In response, a police official stated, "Mortuaries and funeral homes are not subject to regulations. Nothing has changed even after Fuller’s case came to light," criticizing that "it is common for corpses to be left to decompose or stored in places without security facilities." The official emphasized, "There is a need for systems that can prevent all forms of abuse that damage the dignity of the deceased."
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