David Fuller, a hospital electrician who had ‘a roaming eye’ and frequently cheated upon his wife, was convicted of murder today.
The three-times-married pensioner and unofficial photographer of the 80s band Cutting Crew was reported to have had an affair with a colleague and had a brief flirt with his sister-in law not long after he got married.
Maidstone Crown Court, Kent, also heard that the couple had a volatile and unhappy relationship. His then-wife Sally was also seen with bruising.
Police were told by a former lover that he was a normal, loving and kind man who wasn’t violent or kinky.
Fuller, 67 is currently on trial for beating and asphyxiating two young women in 1987, just five months apart.
The court heard that police had previously found evidence that he had defiled female corpses at a hospital morgue.
The deaths of Wendy Knell (25), and Caroline Pierce (20) were known as the “Bedsit Murders” and are considered one of the longest unsolved double murder cases in the UK.
Both women lived in separate ground-floor flats in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. They worked in the same town, but they didn’t know each other.
Miss Knell, who was found dead in her bloodstained mattress on June 23, 1987, was discovered by Miss Pierce who had been dropped off by a taxi just outside her home on November 24, 1987.
David Fuller has been accused of killing Wendy Knell, 25 and Caroline Pierce, 20 years old.
The court learned that she had spent the evening watching a video of “Little Shop of Horrors” with a friend before they went out for a beer in the town.
The naked body of the victim, without any clothing, was found in a dyke in a field located 38 miles away in St Mary-in-the-Marsh (Kent) three weeks later.
Miss Knell, Miss Pierce, and Miss Pierce had been beaten to the head with a blunt and heavy object, asphyxiated using a ligature and armlock, and sexually assaulted until the point of death.
Following a breakthrough of DNA evidence, Fuller was arrested and charged with the murders.
The court heard that his loft contained ‘a library containing unimaginable sexual depravity’, which included videos and images of him sexually abusing female corpses. He also spent a considerable time in the mortuaries of the Kent and Sussex Hospital and Tunbridge Wells Hospital.
He admitted killing Miss Knell, Miss Pierce, but denied their murders because of diminished responsibility.
Jurors heard that Fuller toured the country with Cutting Crew, whose greatest hit is Died in your Arms.
Fuller claimed that they didn’t have children, but they shared a passion of cycling, birdwatching, photography, and a love for cycling.
Pictured: Wendy Knell was found dead at her bedsit in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in June 1987
The jury heard that Mrs. Fuller was’sick’ and ‘tired’ of his looking at other women.
Mrs Fuller was described as “quite naive” on one occasion. She was seen with a blackeye and bruising from the place where her husband had kicked.
Julie Staples, his sister-in-law, told the court that Fuller had tried to flirt with Julie not long after he got married. Fuller, despite being quiet, could be’verbally angry’.
He had an affair with a nurse from Kent and Sussex Hospital in 1990. They met at a Kent Hospital social club.
Susan Marjoram stated in a statement that he was serious about her. We would meet at a social club, and he would return to me. It was intimate.
“He never stayed up all night, and although we had sex, it was never anything kinky.”
“He was a normal, loving, and kind man. He didn’t shout at me or be violent. He was also not demanding sexually.
“He was a gentleman and treated me well.
Caroline Pierce (pictured) went missing outside her home in Grosvenor Park on November 24 of the same year and was found dead in a water-filled dyke of a field on Romney Marsh in Kent
Ms Marjoram stated that Fuller was with her for a couple years. She knew Fuller was married to Sally Fuller and tried persuading him to leave her.
She said that she knew he had two children by a previous marriage and that she had met his mother.
Ms Marjoram said that Fuller was kind, gentle, and that she ‘never saw another side to him.
According to the court, Fuller eventually ‘dumped’ Ms Marjoram in favor of another hospital staff nurse.
Fuller and his wife lived in a Broomhill Bank staff house from the mid- to late 80s. This was a school for girls with learning disabilities.
Mrs Fuller was a housemother. Her former colleague, who told the court of times they shared with their partner, told the court.
Wendy Turland said that Fuller was’reasonably silent and boring’ unless the topic was one that he was passionate about.
Ms Turland stated that David was an avid photographer. He saw himself as the official unofficial’ photographer of Cutting Crew. They were doing a lot a lot with gigging at the same time.
“He would follow them, taking hundreds of photos ….. They (Fuller and his spouse) followed them everywhere they went and went to every gig. They must have spent hundreds.
Ms. Turland stated that the couple had a volatile marriage.
“Outwardly it appeared that Sally wore the pants, but in reality, I don’t believe that was true,” she told police.
“She talked about Divorcing him …. I seem to recall that he had a wandering eye and Sally was sick of it.
‘Sally was always the most demonstrative when David was out, while David was quiet. David would look at Sally while out, but not Sally.
Ms. Turland also mentioned a time when Mrs. Fuller asked her to be a mediator in a dispute with her husband.
She claimed that when she arrived at their school living quarters, Mrs Fuller was extremely upset and was crying, while Fuller was initially angry.
All their property was marked with Post-it notes stating ‘Yours and ‘Mine,’ as well as Mrs Fuller’s writing.
Ms. Turland also recalls another incident when Mrs. Fuller had black eyes.
“I don’t remember her saying how she got it, but there had been a fight …. I remember seeing bruises on her arms and legs, and Sally telling us that David had kicked them.”
Julie Staples, Mrs Fuller’s sister, told the court that the family didn’t know much about Fuller when they met him.
She said that he was quiet, but would lose his temper. However, she never saw him be violent with her sister.
Ms. Staples expressed concern that Fuller was seeing women other than her.
She spoke out about her flirtatious behavior towards him and said she was unable to believe he was interested in her.
“Albeit was a quiet man, but he had an innate way with me that I disliked, and he was encouraging.
The trial continues.