'Confusion' over mortuary oversight still 'widespread' four years after necrophilia scandal

There is “widespread confusion” among which senior executive is accountable for mortuary services, with many CEOs blind to potential criminal liability, according to the final report into the abuse of dozens of deceased patients at an NHS trust.

The latest phase of the independent inquiry into the crimes of convicted sex offender David Fuller was released today. It is highly critical of the lack of oversight exercised by trust boards over the operation of their mortuaries despite the national profile of the scandal.

Maintenance supervisor Mr Fuller sexually violated 100 women’s and girls’ bodies in hospital mortuaries at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust over a 12 year period before his crimes were finally uncovered in 2020 when he was arrested and then convicted for two murders committed before he started to work for the NHS.

The inquiry was headed by Sir Jonathan Michael, former chief executive of Oxford University Hospitals Foundation Trust. The final report highlighted confusion among executives about who held accountability for mortuary services, but also stressed “this confusion was one aspect of the limited oversight of the performance of the mortuary service”.

The inquiry investigated the arrangements at 24 trusts in detail. It found many significant inconsistencies in who directors thought was accountable for mortuary services, with some at the same organisation saying it was the medical director and others the chief operating officer. 

Senior executives also believed their trusts’ safeguarding policies included the care of dead people, but failed to ensure that policies did so.

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Source: HSJ, 15 July 2025