Cameras installed in hospital mortuary
CCTV cameras have been installed in a Shropshire hospital’s mortuaries in response to a necrophiliac’s sex crimes at an NHS trust in the south of England.
Electrical maintenance supervisor David Fuller received two whole-life sentences in 2021 for the murders of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce and 16 years in prison for mortuary sex offences on at least 113 deceased women and girls.
The mortuary crimes took place at the Kent and Sussex Hospital and the Tunbridge Wells Hospital between 2005 and 2020.
His crimes in the mortuaries were revealed following investigations into the murders of the two women, who were slain in 1987.
An independent inquiry, chaired by Sir Jonathan Michael, urged NHS organisations across the country to act “quickly and decisively” on his recommendations.
Sir Jonathan wrote: “The offences that David Fuller committed were truly shocking, and he will never be released from prison.
“However, the failures of management, governance, regulation and processes, and a persistent lack of curiosity all contributed to the creation of the environment in which he was able to offend.”
One of the recommendations from the inquiry was to install CCTV cameras inside post-mortem rooms that focus on the doors to fridges.
A report to a meeting of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust (SaTH) this week said that this action has already been carried out, and the coverage is being reviewed.
The trust has also installed additional swipe card access to the room to which only the mortuary team has access.
Signs have also been placed to remind teams and visitors not to use phones.
The mortuary is also within the first phase of the installation of a new swipe-on-exit system being commissioned by the trust, board members will be told on Thursday (September 11).
The board of directors is being asked to note the trust’s compliance position and actions taken so far following phase two of the independent inquiry.
The report notes that out of 20 recommendations in the second phase of the inquiry, SaTH is “assured that we are compliant” in 16 of them, “partially assured in three” and in one – swipe cards – it is “not yet assured that we are compliant”.
