The identities of some women double murderer David Fuller violated in Kent hospital mortuaries may never be known, police have admitted, despite a £2.5m investigation centred on his heinous acts in the morgue.

Fuller, who yesterday pleaded guilty to the murders of Wendy Knell, 25, and Caroline Pierce, 20, in 1987, assaulted 100 dead women, three who were under the age of 18, and others over 85-years-old, in hospitals where he worked, over 12 years.

Watch: The moment David Fuller is arrested for murder, and police discovering hard drives showing what he did in the mortuaries

The heinous crimes took place first at the Kent and Sussex Hospital, which closed in 2011, and then Tunbridge Wells Hospital, between 2008 and November 2020.

So far, 81 of the victims have been identified, but police have said it’s likely that the names of some will never be known, due to factors such as a lack of distinctive marks, scars or tattoos, and other limited information.

One of the victims was Azra Kemal, 24, who died in July 2020, after falling 30ft from a bridge on the A21. Her mum has spoken of her pain, after her daughter was violated.

The revelation has resulted in an external investigation into Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (MTW), looking at how Fuller was able to commit his crimes, and prompted Health Secretary Sajid Javid to call for all NHS trusts to review access to mortuaries and post-mortem activities.

Fuller's actions in mortuaries were discovered after hard drives, which were stuck on the back of a cupboard, and contained videos and images, were found in his home office.

Following Fuller’s guilty plea, it can now be revealed how the violations in mortuary became the centre of a £2.5m investigation police, how the electrician used his job to carry out his sickening desires and that he catalogued the names of some of his victims.

After Fuller’s arrest for the murder of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce in December 2020, police began searching his three bedroom house which he shared with his family, in Heathfield, for any evidence linked to the killings.

Fuller’s family no longer live at the address.

During a briefing held at Kent Police’s HQ, Fuller’s office was described by Det Supt Ivan Beasley of Kent Sussex Serious Crime Detectorate, as a “box room”, with a hatch that went into the loft.

Everything was seized from the home office and loft, and a team of nine officers spent five months searching and combing through the items.

There were handwritten diaries going back to the 1980s, mobile phones from the 1990s, more than 100 hard drives, 2,200 floppy disks, 30 sim cards, 1,300 CDs and DVDs, 34,000 photos, negative slides and camera film rolls.

Discoveries such as diaries and family photos also helped further the murder investigation into Fuller.

High powered computers had to be brought in to sift through the digital data, and during the briefing it was revealed the team were still working through it, ten months later.

In the end, 3,500 exhibits were identified.

Attached to the back of a cabinet with duct tape, which Fuller kept in a wardrobe in the office, officers unearthed four hard drives, which contained videos and images Fuller had taken himself, of him violating dead women.

Speaking about the discovery, Det Supt Beasley said: “It quickly became clear that the extreme and style of offending was likely to be unprecedented in the UK. There’s nothing we have ever seen like this before.”

Operation Sandpiper was launched, its primary aim to investigate the offences committed in the mortuary by David Fuller, and running alongside the murder investigation.

A team was set up to identify the victims in the mortuary, with police calling upon systems used to identify people after past disasters.

The hard drives contained folders which appeared to be labelled with names of a few of the victims, and a black notebook Fuller took to work also contained more records and names.

The police set up a process with Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust and the coroner’s office, in order to access records.

Identifying the bodies also involved studying physical features and sometimes, glimpses of name bands.

The evidence of identification was given to Det Ch Supt Paul Fotheringham, who led the enquiry.

It was up to him to decide on a case by case basis, whether there was enough evidence to name each woman, and if there was, inform their family.

However, police say they may never be able to identify all the victims.

In a statement, Det Ch Supt Fotheringham said: "Sadly, it is likely to be the case that some of the victims will never be identified.

"In these cases there is such limited information available to help us with establishing their identities, and there are no lines of enquiry outside of the investigation that can assist us.”

Police used CCTV from Tunbridge Wells Hospital to piece together Fuller’s movements, combing through 150,000 hours of footage.

Due to his role, Fuller had access to all areas in the hospital, including the mortuary.

In 1989, Fuller worked in electric maintenance roles at the Kent and Sussex Hospital until 2010.

Fuller moved onto Tunbridge Wells Hospital, where he worked for a sub contractor firm, and he stayed there until he was arrested.

He started as a maintenance engineer, but worked his way up to be a supervisor.

He never worked at Maidstone hospital, the other hospital under the care of MTW.

Fuller generally worked the late shift, from 11am-7pm, meaning there were about three hours when he could be in the mortuary with no one else.

CCTV in the mortuary didn’t cover the whole area, and there were no cameras where forensic examinations were carried out. David Fuller would have known this, Det Supt Beasley said.

There was no CCTV of him violating or interacting with bodies, but footage showed him going into the mortuary, and then disappearing into areas which weren’t covered by cameras.

In order to support the families of Fuller’s victims, more than 150 specialist family liaison officers were bought in.

The victim’s commissioner has given advice on how to handle the situation, and a package of support and processes have been designed specifically for the case.

Families will be offered a wide range of support, including counselling.

The support package costs around £1.5m, with funding from Governmental departments, secured by the Kent Police Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott.

Specialist family liaison officers have already contacted the families of all identified victims and police are not asking for the public’s help in the investigation.

However, Kent Police has set up a phoneline intended for people who may feel they may have information about the investigation.

The Health Service Journal reports that relatives will be given a letter from Miles Scott, chief executive at MTW, with a personal apology and an invitation for them to contact the trust.

Overall Operation Sandpiper has cost over £2.5m with support from the National Crime Agency, which, amongst other roles, provided National Family Liaison advice, drawing on best practice established over decades of dealing with major incidents and disasters.

The investigation has been scrutinised throughout and peer reviewed.

Following the discovery of the videos, Fuller was charged with 44 offences relating to 78 deceased females including children under 18 and women over 85 years of age.

Libby Clark, crown prosecutor, who worked on the case, said: “The case of David Fuller I think is the most distressing and most challenging case personally I have ever been involved in."

She said the offending was “on a scale we have never seen before”, adding: “When I stop from time to time to think about it I do find it almost unbelievable that we have a case of this nature.”

As well as the crimes committed in the mortuary and the murders, Fuller admitted to seven additional charges.

These charges relate to making indecent images of children through internet secured material, possessing indecent images of children through internet source material, as well as a single printed image located in his office.

They also relate to possessing an extreme pornographic image through internet sourced material, and finally, voyeurism.

A phoneline has been set up for people who feel they may have information about the investigation. To ring, dial 0800 051 5270.

To read more of our in depth coverage of all of the major trials coming out of crown and magistrates' courts across the county, click here.

Read more: All the latest news from Tunbridge Wells