The families of victims who were abused by murderer David Fuller in Kent are to receive compensation.

Fuller, 68, was jailed for life last December for the murders of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce in 1987 as well as defiling the bodies of more than 100 women kept in the mortuary at the hospital where he worked.

A number of family members of David Fuller’s mortuary victims have suffered psychologically after hearing of the horrific events their family member went through.

Subsequently, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has agreed to a compensation protocol whereby close family members of the victims will be paid damages.

This payment will vary depending on the psychological reaction and medical experts will assess this and made recommendations for treatment.

Family members will also be able to claim for out of pocket expenses.

A statement from the Trust said: "The Trust is pleased that a compensation scheme has now been agreed and approved by the Department of Health and Social Care for the families of the victims of David Fuller’s mortuary crimes.

"The Trust is grateful to the families for the input they have provided into the design of the scheme.

"The Trust wishes to apologise once again for the hurt Fuller’s horrendous crimes have caused the families and understands that no amount of compensation can lessen the pain they have suffered as a result of his actions.

"The Trust hopes that the agreed compensation scheme will provide a fair and swift process for victims’ families and ensure family members are able to access any additional support they may need."

Dean Wilson Solicitors currently represent 80 relatives of Fuller’s mortuary victims.

They have intimated claims against Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust for violations of Article 3 (torture and degrading treatment) and Article 8 (right to private life) of the Human Rights Act 1998.

However, The Trust does not admit that it is legally liable to pay damages to close family members of the deceased victims of Fuller, although, it does recognise that close family members of the deceased victims have arguable claims under the Human Rights Act 1998 against the defendant.

Therefore, the protocol aims to deal with the compensation of those arguable claims.

Ben Davey, representing the families, said: “It is a national scandal that David Fuller was able to perpetuate his offences on NHS property over such a long period of time.

"The families of each of the victims have had a difficult enough time as it is grieving for the death of a loved one.

"They have then had the additional trauma on top of this of learning that their family member’s corpse was abused whilst under the care of the NHS.

"I am pleased that this compensation scheme that has been agreed recognises that payments must be made to the family members, and makes appropriate provision for psychological treatment where it is reasonably required.”

In 2020, Fuller was arrested for the murders of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce in 1987.

During the initial investigation by police, evidence was found of Fuller abusing at least 102 bodies in two hospital mortuaries.

The files found at Fuller’s home were dated between 2008 and 2020, with millions of images and videos of his abuse of bodies kept on discs and hard drives.

Fuller also labelled some of these files with the names of his victims.

The youngest victim was aged 9 and the oldest had reached 100 when she died.

Fuller entered a not guilty plea to the mortuary offences in January 2021, but subsequently pleaded guilty on October 8 2021. He entered guilty pleas to the two murder charges two days later.

On December 15 2021, Cheema Grubb J sentenced him to life imprisonment, with no release provisions, for the murder offences and 12 years’ imprisonment for the sexual offences.

On November 8 2021, the Secretary of State for health & social care announced in the House of Commons that he would empanel an “independent inquiry” to investigate the wider circumstances of the offending of Fuller.

The inquiry is ongoing and is presently due to report in early 2023.