AN INDEPENDENT inquiry has been launched by the government after a hospital electrician from Sussex sexually abused corpses in mortuaries.

David Fuller admitted to murdering then sexually assaulting two women, as well as carrying out dozens of sex attacks on bodies in hospital morgues over several years.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the inquiry will investigate the circumstances of the offences committed and their national implications.

He said: “It will help us understand how these offences took place without detection in the trust, identify any areas where early action by this trust was necessary, and then consider wider national issues, including for the NHS.”

The inquiry will be split into two parts, with the first being an interim report expected early in the new year, followed by a final report looking at the national picture and wider lessons for the NHS.

Speaking to the House of Commons, the health secretary said: “We have a responsibility to everyone affected by these shocking crimes to do right by those we’ve lost and those still left behind in their shock and their grief.”

Mr Javid also apologised to the friends and relatives of Fuller's victims and said: “I know that no apology can undo the pain and suffering caused by these offences, but with such serious issues of dignity and security we have a duty to look at what happened in detail, and make sure it never happens again.”

Fuller, from Heathfield, admitted to the 1987 murders in Tunbridge Wells of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce last week, four days into his trial.

He had admitted killing the two women but originally pleaded not guilty to murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Ahead of his trial, Fuller pleaded guilty to 51 other offences, including 44 charges relating to 78 identified victims in mortuaries where he was working as an electrician.

But investigators have so far detected at least 99 potential victims.

The victims included three children under the age of 18 and others older than 85 between 2008 and November 2020.

Fuller filmed himself carrying out the attacks at mortuaries inside the now-closed Kent and Sussex Hospital and the Tunbridge Wells Hospital, in Pembury, where he worked in electrical maintenance roles since 1989.

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