GUILTY UK - Arrest in 1987 'Bedsit Murders' of Wendy Knell, 25, and Caroline Pierce, 20, in Kent

[Lord Peter Flimsy]

I don’t even want to think about it but what of those who have lost female family members that would have been kept in the morgue at Tunbridge Wells Hospital (and the former Kent & Sussex Hospital). The Bedsit murders were horrific enough but this latest information is even more disturbing.

 

[Officer Dibble]

Hospital worker accused of double murder 'sexually abused bodies in mortuaries'

Totally vomit inducing reading here. If you had female relative in the mortuary during those years at those two hospitals you would be tormented reading that, IMO. JMO MOO.

 

[SaintGertrude]

The 2nd of the Bedgebury Forest murders in 1982 on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells. As the newspaper article shows Jean Brook also once worked in Camden Road in Tunbridge Wells.

This is very worrying to think there could be some kind of connection with the Bedgebury forest murder via the Camden Road links. I wonder how the dates would line up now we have more information about the towns he lived at. Do you have a clearer copy of the article you shared with us please Lord Peter in particular with reference to Camden Road.

 

[Mrs Marple]

Hospital worker accused of double murder 'sexually abused bodies in mortuaries'

Totally vomit inducing reading here. If you had female relative in the mortuary during those years at those two hospitals you would be tormented reading that, IMO. JMO MOO.

Makes me wonder what else he has done.

 

[Mind your biscuits]

OMG what a terrible man, they need to throw away the key for this monster. Ewwwww. Moo

 

[HollyHunter9]

I have a feeling these are not his only crimes. I wonder if there are any women missing near places he used to live? As for the mortuary assaults...so weird & creepy, brazen too because imagine if another member of staff walked in on him! I get Peter Tobin vibes from him.
Edited to add MOO

 

[SaintGertrude]

I have a feeling these are not his only crimes. I wonder if there are any women missing near places he used to live? As for the mortuary assaults...so weird & creepy, brazen too because imagine if another member of staff walked in on him! I get Peter Tobin vibes from him.
Edited to add MOO

I do think people do creepy things with body parts. I cannot find a connection but these instances are puzzling. There was a leg found in Hertfordshire then other body parts which seem out of the ordinary. I almost feel they are body parts from someone discharged from hospital then murdered. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk/2009/mar/30/body-part-found-hertfordshire

The Human Jigsaw: A leg was found first, then a forearm ... so, what is the truth behind Britain's bizarre murder mystery? | Daily Mail Online

Quote: What they do know is that the dead man was in poor health when he died. Aged between 45 and his early 60s, around 5ft 10in and weighing between 16 and 17stone, he had two missing front teeth, suffered from eczema, which caused his skin to scale, and had discoloured and thickened toenails which harboured a fungal infection.

Examination of the lower left leg revealed he had once suffered a fracture, which would have required him to have worn a cast.

Then there is this a severed foot in Grimsby
Severed foot found on path remains a mystery two years on
Quote: Investigations included examination of processes for disposing of body parts at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital which is several miles from the scene. But none of those proved conclusive.

Speculation over the discovery included suggestions that a medical student may have obtained the human remain as part of their homework and later disposed of it

 

[Whitehall 1212]

I do think people do creepy things with body parts. I cannot find a connection but these instances are puzzling. There was a leg found in Hertfordshire then other body parts which seem out of the ordinary. I almost feel they are body parts from someone discharged from hospital then murdered. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk/2009/mar/30/body-part-found-hertfordshire

The Human Jigsaw: A leg was found first, then a forearm ... so, what is the truth behind Britain's bizarre murder mystery? | Daily Mail Online

Quote: What they do know is that the dead man was in poor health when he died. Aged between 45 and his early 60s, around 5ft 10in and weighing between 16 and 17stone, he had two missing front teeth, suffered from eczema, which caused his skin to scale, and had discoloured and thickened toenails which harboured a fungal infection.

Examination of the lower left leg revealed he had once suffered a fracture, which would have required him to have worn a cast.

Then there is this a severed foot in Grimsby
Severed foot found on path remains a mystery two years on
Quote: Investigations included examination of processes for disposing of body parts at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital which is several miles from the scene. But none of those proved conclusive.

Speculation over the discovery included suggestions that a medical student may have obtained the human remain as part of their homework and later disposed of it

The Human Jigsaw case relates to this:

Murder of Jeffrey Howe - Wikipedia.

 

[Whitehall 1212]

Didn't Ian Huntley fake mental illness after he killed Holly and Jessica?

Huntley did once he was arrested, which resulted in him being sectioned and sent to Rampton for a couple of months, for assessment. Conclusion - bad, not mad!

 

[annpats]

Hospital worker accused of double murder 'sexually abused bodies in mortuaries'

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court heard on Monday that Fuller had "depraved sexual predilections" and had attacked corpses for an "extended period of time" at the hospitals where he worked.

He was an electrician at the Kent and Sussex Hospital from 1989, before moving to the Tunbridge Wells Hospital in 2010, the court heard.

Fuller was finally arrested for the murders at his Heathfield home in December 2020 when detectives allegedly found evidence of the mortuary attacks.

They found images of dead women at the two hospital mortuaries being abused by Fuller, Duncan Atkinson QC, prosecuting, said.

Officers then found four hard drives with five terabytes of data storage in total attached to the back of a cupboard.

 

[Lord Peter Flimsy]

Jean Brook was battered to death in 1982. She wasn’t living in Tun Wells at the time but had worked in Camden Road (where both the Bedsit victims were working) according to the attached article in the Tun Wells Courier. Sorry it’s not a great copy.

 

[Lord Peter Flimsy]

I do wonder if the murders may have stopped in 1987 as Fuller was able to feed his depraved need when starting his job at the Kent & Sussex Hospital which we are told was in 1989?

It does beg the question was Wendy Knell his first victim? I suspect not. Can anyone find any newspaper articles relating to his burglaries in Portsmouth in the 1970s?

 

[Whitehall 1212]

This article is the most detailed MSM report I have found regarding these awful crimes and the offenders history.

David Fuller murder trial: Heathfield man accused of killing Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce in Tunbridge Wells in 1987 (kentonline.co.uk)

 

[Whitehall 1212]

I am somewhat perturbed that the acts relating to desecration after death, of Wendy Knell, Caroline Pierce and the deceased in the mortuary are not criminalised in England and Wales by way of legislation.

This was discussed in Parliament in 2020.

Desecration of Corpses: Criminalisation - Hansard - UK Parliament

 

[SaintGertrude]

Jean Brook was battered to death in 1982. She wasn’t living in Tun Wells at the time but had worked in Camden Road (where both the Bedsit victims were working) according to the attached article in the Tun Wells Courier. Sorry it’s not a great copy.

I think this really needs to be looked into further by the police. There are some other connections I have found with murdered Jean Brook having lived in Hastings area and David Fuller on trial for the bedsit murders having a possible St Leonard's on sea connection. Lord Peter Flimsy this may be something worth you reporting to Crimestoppers.
I cannot think if there would be any link at Bedgebury although there is of course the Bedgebury girls school there so could be a connection with that if his wife was working on site at other boarding schools around the time and this included her husband staying nearby.

David Fuller denies murdering two Tunbridge Wells women in 1987 - live updates
Quote: "Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson has moved onto reading out evidence from statements that mention the defendant, David Fuller.
One is from a former employee at Broomhill School, who made a statement in December 2020. She started working there as a house mother in 1982 - the school as a boarding school for girls with moderate learning difficulties at the time. David Fuller’s wife Sally was also a house mother - on the days she was working she lived on the wing with the girls, rather than in her on-site house with David".

 

[SaintGertrude]

This place mentioned where I wanted to see if there is any connection does look creepy. 20 creepy pictures inside desolate Kent school will convince you it's haunted
I hope there are not more victims but as Holly said I too have a feeling that there may be more.

 

[Whitehall 1212]

I think this really needs to be looked into further by the police. There are some other connections I have found with murdered Jean Brook having lived in Hastings area and David Fuller on trial for the bedsit murders having a possible St Leonard's on sea connection. Lord Peter Flimsy this may be something worth you reporting to Crimestoppers.
I cannot think if there would be any link at Bedgebury although there is of course the Bedgebury girls school there so could be a connection with that if his wife was working at other boarding schools around the time.

David Fuller denies murdering two Tunbridge Wells women in 1987 - live updates
Quote: "Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson has moved onto reading out evidence from statements that mention the defendant, David Fuller.
One is from a former employee at Broomhill School, who made a statement in December 2020. She started working there as a house mother in 1982 - the school as a boarding school for girls with moderate learning difficulties at the time. David Fuller’s wife Sally was also a house mother - on the days she was working she lived on the wing with the girls, rather than in her on-site house with David".

There is very little information available regarding the circumstances surrounding Jean Brook's murder. I have not found details of where she went missing from, where/when she was last seen, the circumstances of her disappearance, the cause of death and situation of her being found. This detail may add or detract from suspicion that Fuller was involved.

Obviously the police will have all the available information as a cold case and will have reviewed it in the light of David Fuller being identified and with the advances in DNA forensic science, where relevant.

Any links to Jean Brook's and Fuller's places of residence, employment or other places frequented and their proximity to each other are circumstantial. The key evidential features required to advance a case are:

1. Linking the suspect to the victim
2. Linking the suspect to the crime scene/scenes
3. Linking the suspect to the victim/scenes at or around the time of their disappearance, death, transportation and/or deposition

With the advance of years, only a confession with specific detail or retained clothing/personal effects with newly established forensic evidence, using modern techniques, would progress the case to charge and conviction.

 

[Lord Peter Flimsy]

More on the Jean Brook murder in 1982. This case seems to have been long forgotten and is never mentioned either by the Police or media. Jean Brook deserves justice. I’ve no doubt it was a local man who committed the crime (and that of the other Bedgebury Forest murder in 1979)

 

[SaintGertrude]

There is very little information available regarding the circumstances surrounding Jean Brook's murder. I have not found details of where she went missing from, where/when she was last seen, the circumstances of her disappearance, the cause of death and situation of her being found. This detail may add or detract from suspicion that Fuller was involved.

Obviously the police will have all the available information as a cold case and will have reviewed it in the light of David Fuller being identified and with the advances in DNA forensic science, where relevant.

Any links to Jean Brook's and Fuller's places of residence, employment or other places frequented and their proximity to each other are circumstantial. The key evidential features required to advance a case are:

1. Linking the suspect to the victim
2. Linking the suspect to the crime scene/scenes
3. Linking the suspect to the victim/scenes at or around the time of their disappearance, death, transportation and/or deposition

With the advance of years, only a confession with specific detail or retained clothing/personal effects with newly established forensic evidence, using modern techniques, would progress the case to charge and conviction.

I will try to find out as much as I can about Jean Brook but without police intelligence it would be difficult to make any links if any.
I wonder if Fuller will be questioned about other murders. I think we need a timeline of where he was and what dates as he moved around from Dover,Portsmouth, Tunbridge Wells and more recently Heathfield. Again as Whitehall 1212 mentions this would be circumstantial but at least maybe we can rule out of our thoughts.

 

[Whitehall 1212]

More on the Jean Brook murder in 1982. This case seems to have been long forgotten and is never mentioned either by the Police or media. Jean Brook deserves justice. I’ve no doubt it was a local man who committed the crime (and that of the other Bedgebury Forest murder in 1979)

Thanks M'lud. This report raises a lot more questions that we would like answers to. I wonder if any arrests were ever made or suspects identified. It's almost as if there was a significant suspect but never enough evidence to charge. JMO