A mother whose dead daughter's body was abused by necrophiliac double-murderer David Fuller has asked: "How do you comprehend such a thing?"

Azra Kemal fell to her death from a bridge on the A21 near Tonbridge and her corpse was taken to the morgue at Tunbridge Wells Hospital where Fuller carried out vile assaults on more than 100 victims.

Now, on the day the 67-year-old confessed to the killings of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce in 1987, Azra's mother Nevres Kemal has described her pain at learning her daughter's body had been violated shortly before she visited the mortuary to say her final goodbyes.

"I was told that my daughter had been violated on three occasions in the mortuary," she said.

"What does one think? How do you comprehend such a thing?"

Speaking to Sky News, the North London social worker explained that police officers had come to her home to tell her that Azra's dead body had been raped by a man while she had been in the morgue.

"I had spent two hours in the mortuary sleeping with her," Ms Kemal said. "And that gave me some sort of comfort.

David Fuller is arrested for murder at his home in Heathfield

"Little did I know that my daughter had been violated prior to that day and the evening of that day.

"So, whilst I'm stroking my daughter's hair, sleeping on her hair, a man had crawled all over her skin. And there's me kissing and cuddling and saying my last goodbyes."

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust says an independent investigation into Fuller's appalling crimes will be carried out.

Sir Jonathan Michael - a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians - has been brought in to carry out the review of the offending which occurred first at the Kent and Sussex Hospital, where Fuller worked as electrical maintenance worker from 1989, and then the Tunbridge Wells Hospital, to which he moved in 2010.

Trust chief executive Miles Scott said: "I want to say on behalf of the Trust, how shocked and appalled I am by the criminal activity by David Fuller in our hospital mortuary that has been revealed in court this week.

"And most importantly, I want to apologise to the families of those who’ve been the victims of these terrible crimes.

"I am confident that our mortuary today is safe and secure. But I am determined to see if there are any lessons to be learned or systems to be improved.

"I will ensure that staff at our hospitals are supported as they also process this shocking news. Our mortuary team have been particularly distressed to learn about what has been revealed over the course of this trial.

"My immediate priority, though, is to ensure the families of Fuller’s victims are given the time, space and privacy to come to terms with what they’ve learned - and that they receive all the care and support they need."

Fuller - balding, bespectacled and wearing a black Covid mask - sat in the dock throughout the trial this week dressed in a grey track suit.

He answered only to acknowledge his name and sat with his head down during the opening.

Wendy Knell, 25, was found dead in her bloodstained bed on the morning of June 23, 1987.

Caroline Pierce, 20 went missing after being dropped off by a taxi outside her home on November 24 that year. Her body was discovered in a flooded culvert 40 miles away on Romney Marsh weeks later.

Sentencing will now take place at a later date and Fuller, of Heathfield in East Sussex, was remanded in custody.

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