Today, David Fuller, 67, has admitted to the murders of Wendy Knell, 25 and Caroline Pierce, 20, both from Tunbridge Wells, in 1987.

Fuller, from Heathfield, East Sussex, had previously admitted killing the women but denied murder; claiming manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Both had been beaten and strangled. After they died, Fuller had sex with their bodies.

Fuller has also admitted sexually assaulting up to 100 female corpses at two hospitals – Kent and Sussex Hospital and Tunbridge Wells Hospital – between 2008 and November 2020.

The killer of Wendy and Caroline remained a mystery for decades but following Fuller’s guilty plea, it can now be revealed how, thanks to advances in DNA technology, police were finally able to catch him.

Wendy Knell lived on her own in Guildford Road, in a ground floor flat in a cul de sac.

She was a manager at Supasnaps, in Camden Road, in Tunbridge Wells town centre.

After finishing work on June 22, she did some shopping and then spent the evening with her boyfriend, Ian Plass, before he took her home at around 11pm.

The couple had planned to marry and start a family.

Wendy didn’t turn up for work the next morning and Mr Plass broke in through a front window, after no response from inside the flat.

Once inside, he “encountered the stuff of nightmares”, according to prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC, speaking during the trial.

Wendy was lying on her bed, naked, with blood on the pillows, the duvet cover, which was pulled over her, and the towel she was lying on.

Police could find no sign of forced entry, leading them to believe this was someone with experience in breaking into bedsits.

A pair of Wendy’s keys had been taken, as would later happen in Caroline’s murder.

Some 50 detectives began the hunt for the shop manager’s killer but Fuller eluded them.

His second victim, 20-year-old waitress Caroline Pierce, lived alone in a ground floor flat in Grovesnor Park, in another cul de sac. Her flat was about a mile from Wendy’s.

Like Wendy, Caroline worked in Camden Road, as a manager at popular restaurant Buster Browns.

On the evening of November 24, Caroline had been out with friends and then got a taxi home. The taxi driver saw her walk to her home.

Soon after, nearby residents heard long screams with an “animal quality”, and shouts of “no”.

Caroline had been abducted outside her own flat and her body would not be found until three weeks later.

Her mother gave an impassioned TV appeal for her return and articles were circulated in a catering magazine, in case Caroline spotted them while looking for work.

On December 15, a tractor driver found the restaurant manager under water in a ditch, near to the village of St Mary-in-the-Marsh.

She was naked apart from a pair of tights. She had been sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled.

Police began investigating a possible link between the two murders and women living in the Tunbridge Wells area were advised not to leave Christmas parties alone.

A team of more than 80 detectives were investigating Caroline’s death, which included searching the cemetery next to her home.

Twelve experts from the Kent Police drugs team also examined a possible link between drug users in Tunbridge Wells and Romney Marsh.

During the first two years, police were unable to come up with any significant evidence which would lead them to the culprit.

DNA of an unknown male was discovered at Wendy’s murder scene on a bed cover, but back then DNA profiling was still in its infancy.

A number of people were considered possible suspects, and their DNA was compared to the profile found in Wendy’s bedsit- but they were all ruled out.

In 1995 the National DNA database was launched, which holds electronic records of DNA taken from convicts and crime scenes.

In 1999, thanks to advances in forensic science, investigators were able to turn the partial DNA profile, from semen on Wendy’s bed cover, into a full, searchable DNA profile.

But, after searching the DNA database, no match was found.

Over the years, detectives and family members of the victims continued to appeal for information about the murders.

In 2007, after a BBC Crimewatch episode, about 40 people rang with names for the police to look at.

Wendy’s parents, Bill and Pam Knell, renewed calls for help on the 25th and 30th anniversaries of their daughter’s death.

The pair were hopeful that one day someone would come forward with information, and spoke about how their loss had affected them.

Mrs Knell said: "Just before it happened I turned 50 and they all said to me your life begins at 50. Then that happened and my life finished as I knew it then."

Mr Knell, who was gravely ill with cancer, said: “It affected our married life as well because from the day she was killed Pam couldn't bear me near her. If I put my arms around her she just goes 'don't do that”.

"So the only thing I could do was move to the other bedroom and I have been there ever since. She has got her bedroom and I have got mine, so I have not only lost a daughter, I have lost a wife and gained a sister."

The retired bus driver spoke of wanting to know the identity of the murderer before he died, but passed away later that year.

Although the investigation was scaled down, it was never closed and police reviewed it over the decades.

In 2019, Det Supt Ivan Beasley of Kent Sussex Serious Crime Detectorate began working on the case, to see if the advances in science could help.

Although police believed the murder of Wendy and Caroline to be linked, they had never had any forensic evidence to back this up.

However, for the first time, scientists were able to find a partial DNA profile from semen on tights Caroline had been wearing, when she was found in a ditch 32 years ago.

And then came another first- after examining the DNA and comparing it with the profile at Wendy’s murder scene, police were able to say the cases were forensically linked.

The DNA was then run through the national database, to see if they could find a relative of the suspect.

From the database, lists can now be produced in order of genetic closeness to the DNA.

A list of 1000 names was compiled, with people whose DNA was similar, but not necessarily relatives of the suspect.

Looking at different factors, a priority list of 90 individuals was produced, and officers visited and questioned them, travelling all over the UK, including to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Towards the end of November 2020, the laboratory found a very close DNA match, and started looking into this person and their family.

This led them to David Fuller, whose past, as we shall see, had links to the circumstances of the murders.

Fuller, who lived with his family in a semi-detatched three bedroom house in East Sussex, was arrested in the early morning of December 3, 2020 for the murder of Wendy and Caroline.

Fuller's family no longer live at that address.

Speaking to police, Fuller denied any involvement and knowing the area of Tunbridge Wells- which would later prove to be a blatant lie.

His DNA, taken while in custody, was an exact match with the profile found on Wendy’s bed cover.

His DNA was also present in other parts of the bedding in Wendy’s home, such as saliva found on a towel under her head.

The partial DNA sample found on Caroline’s tights, was found to be 160,000 more likely to be his DNA than not.

A fingerprint left in blood on a Millets carrier bag, found in Wendy’s room, was re-examined.

The print, which had been left while Wendy was bleeding, was a direct match with Fuller’s.

Previously, the quality of the finger print was not good enough to compare to other prints on a database.

A shoe mark in blood had been imprinted on a blouse owned by Wendy. Investigators decided it was possibly a sportstrek trainer, produced by Clarks.

Fuller was a hoarder, and upon his arrest, officers poured over contents from his home office and loft, which was accessed via a hatch in the office.

As well as handwritten diaries going back to the 1980s, mobile phones from the 1990s, 1,300 CDs and DVDs, there were 34,000 photos, negative slides and camera film rolls.

Some of the pictures included family snaps, where Fuller appeared to be wearing Clarks trainers, and his pose allowed the soles of the shoes to be seen.

Forensic work, and going through an archive belonging to Clarks, showed the soles in the photo and worn at the crime scene were the same.

Fuller denied knowing Tunbridge Wells, but evidence showed he lived there in 1987- the year of the murder.

In the late seventies and early eighties he lived in Guildford Road, where Wendy Knell lived before Fuller killed her.

He also lived in a road just around the corner from Caroline Pierce.

Paperwork was discovered, which showed he worked in homes near his victims as an electrician, before going to work for the Kent and Sussex Hospital in 1989.

Finally, In 1973 he pleaded guilty to three domestic burglaries and 23 similar offences were taken into consideration. He did not, however, get sent to prison.

A further domestic burglary was dealt with in 1977.

He had climbed through the windows to carry out the burglaries, suggesting he had the skills to get into Wendy’s bedsit through her own window.

Fuller’s arrest also led to the discovery of videos and photos, in concealed hard drives, which showed him sexually assaulting and penetrating the bodies of dead women, three who were under the age of 18, and others over 85-years-old.

Fuller pleaded guilty to 44 charges at at an earlier court hearing, which was then under reporting restrictions.

The charges relate to the penetration of a corpse, possessing an extreme pornographic image involving sexual interference with a corpse and taking indecent images of children.

As well as the crimes committed in the mortuary, Fuller has pleaded guilty 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.

Read more: All the latest news from Tunbridge Wells

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