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David Fuller inquiry: Mum of victim Azra Kemal calls for Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust boss to resign

17:18, 28 November 2023

updated: 16:05, 29 November 2023

A mum whose daughter’s body was abused by necrophiliac killer David Fuller has called for a hospital boss to resign.

It comes after an independent inquiry found the maintenance worker was able to offend for 15 years without being suspected or caught due to “serious failings” at the hospitals he worked at.

Necrophiliac and double murderer David Fuller. Picture: Kent Police
Necrophiliac and double murderer David Fuller. Picture: Kent Police

Nevres Kemal’s daughter Azra, who died after falling from a bridge on the A21 near Tonbridge, and was one of Fuller’s victims.

Her body was taken to the morgue at Tunbridge Wells Hospital, which is run by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust, in 2020 and she was violated three times by the 69-year-old.

Speaking to Sky News, her mum Nevres said: “Unless you have experienced this, you will not know the unimaginable pain, the horror that accompanies you night and day, every day.

“The trust and other organisations have been failing for 15 years and now we know the truth, how Fuller was allowed to abuse our loved ones.

“I do not feel the trust is capable of learning these new lessons as they were not capable of following national guidelines or their own policies or procedures.

“It is a complete and utter failure. He was left unsupervised it is unheard of. The lack of curiosity is a lack of professionalism.

Law student Azra Kemal was one of Fuller's victims. Picture: Facebook
Law student Azra Kemal was one of Fuller's victims. Picture: Facebook

“It is an absolute disgrace, it is bad enough losing your loved ones but then to be told they were abused and raped in a mortuary on numerous occasions and it could have been prevented, where do you go with that. We just need justice now.”

The social worker has called for the trust’s chief executive Miles Scott, who took on the role in 2018, to resign as she says he has failed.

Mr Scott said in a statement he was “deeply sorry for the pain and anguish” suffered by the families of Fuller’s victims. He added: “I know how devastating it has been for them to learn the extent of his crimes.”

While many of the recommendations were acted on in the wake of Fuller’s arrest, Mr Scott said the trust would be implementing the remainder “as quickly as possible” and said the report “contains important lessons”.

Fuller sexually abused the bodies of at least 101 women and girls aged between nine and 100 while employed at the now-closed Kent and Sussex Hospital and the Tunbridge Wells Hospital, in Pembury, between 2005 and 2020.

The 69-year-old was already serving a whole life sentence for the murders of Wendy Knell, 25, and Caroline Pierce, 20, in two separate attacks in Tunbridge Wells, in 1987, when police uncovered his systematic sexual abuse in hospital mortuaries.

David Fuller worked at Tunbridge Wells Hospital where many of the crimes happened. Picture: Google Maps
David Fuller worked at Tunbridge Wells Hospital where many of the crimes happened. Picture: Google Maps

Two years ago, the government launched an independent inquiry to investigate how Fuller was able to carry out his crimes undetected, with the first phase of the probe looking at his employer, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.

The report, which was published today (November 28) found he was able to “offend undetected” amid failures in “management, governance” and because standard procedures were not followed.

It added there was “little regard” given to who was accessing the mortuary, with Fuller visiting 444 times in a year – something that went “unnoticed and unchecked”.

Following the publication of the report, inquiry chairman Sir Jonathan Michael laid out numerous recommendations for the trust to follow, including non-mortuary staff not being allowed to visit alone and CCTV being installed.

Speaking to KentOnline, MP for Tunbridge Wells Greg Clark said the findings should be implemented across every hospital in the country.

He added: “My initial reaction is renewed horror at what the families of Fuller’s victims have gone through. Many of them gave evidence in this inquiry and therefore had to re-live the torture they felt since they first found out about the crimes Fuller committed on their loved ones.

Greg Clark MP says the recommendations should be applied to all hospitals
Greg Clark MP says the recommendations should be applied to all hospitals

“I think it would be wrong not to require [the recommendations] to be implemented in every other hospital in the country as well.

“There is nothing unique about Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells, in fact, the inquiry reported that it was a high-performing hospital in many respects.

“If it could happen there if someone with the criminal intent of Fuller was able to deceive people there, then there is every likelihood that such a person will deceive other people in other places.

“This needs to be right across the NHS as well as in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells.”

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