David Fuller Inquiry: Funeral homes need urgent regulation after ‘distressing reports of neglect’ | UK News

Anyone can set themselves up as a funeral director and “keep the bodies in the garage”, a president of the inquiry warned today, calling for urgent regulation of the funeral sector.

Sir Jonathan Michael, President of David Fuller inquiry, says the public would be “shocked” by the lack of an independent statutory regulatory regime for undertakers in England.

He presented his recommendations for the sector in light of recent “distressing reports of neglect”.

He said: “It is clear to me that many people believe or assume that the sector is already regulated and are shocked to discover that this is not the case.

“The fact is that anyone can become a funeral director. He could do this at home and keep the bodies of the deceased in the garage, without anyone being able to stop them. This can’t be right.”

The inquiry was created to examine how Fuller, a maintenance supervisor, was capable of committing sexual crimes in the morgues of two hospitals in kent.

In its first phase, published in November 2023, it stated “serious failures“in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, which allowed Fuller to commit his crimes.

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This second phase looks at the wider national picture in the NHS and other settings, such as funeral homes.

Sir Jonathan said: “My hope is that publishing this interim report now will help both the government and the funeral sector itself to take action to reassure the public that care in the funeral sector is fit for purpose.

“We need a regulatory regime that does not tolerate any form of abuse or any practices that compromise the safety and dignity of the deceased.”

Warning: There are descriptions below that some readers may find distressing

Several cases have caused concern. Earlier this year, an investigation was launched into suspected prevention of legal and decent burials. at a funeral home in Hull.

In May 2022, a funeral director from BlackpoolNigel Robinson-Wright was jailed for 17 years after posing for photos next to naked bodies and inviting a man to have sex with a corpse in his mortuary.

And in November 2021, Sharon Howell, a funeral service manager from Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, was jailed for leaving the deceased to decompose and defrauding relatives.

In other cases, the inquest heard evidence that personal belongings were not disposed of in accordance with the deceased’s wishes, that rubbish was left in a coffin and that someone spat on the deceased because they supported a different football team.

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Nevres Kemal, whose daughter Azra was one of Fuller’s victims, told Sky News: “I’m completely shocked. I think the general public believes that funeral homes are regulated with codes of conduct on how to care for the body.

“Restaurants are regulated, nursing homes are regulated, basic amenities are regulated, why don’t we regulate the people who care for our dead?

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“Then you have an organization like the Trust, where Fuller was allowed to abuse, rape and rape bodies for 10 years or more.

“Sir Jonathan Michael highlighted all the failures, but who allowed them to happen? Who is to blame?

“No one was held accountable, neither collectively nor individually, and this is unacceptable.”

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust have been contacted for comment.