David Fuller trial: Wendy Knell's former boyfriend felt daily guilt over death

A man whose girlfriend was killed in her bedsit believed she "would still be alive" if he had stayed with her on the night of her death, a court has heard.

Wendy Knell, 25, was also sexually assaulted in her home in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on 23 June 1987.

David Fuller, 67, has admitted to killing her subject to "diminished responsibility", but denies murder.

A statement from Ms Knell's boyfriend at the time, Ian Plass, was read during a trial at Maidstone Crown Court.

Mr Plass has died since Ms Knell's death.

Mr Fuller, of Heathfield, East Sussex, is also on trial for the murder of Caroline Pierce, who died in similar circumstances a few months after Ms Knell.

During the opening of his trial it emerged Mr Fuller had sexually abused both women during or after their deaths.

He also abused a number of female corpses of varying ages at two Kent hospitals over a 12-year period, the court heard.

It was Mr Plass who found Ms Knell's body, the morning after her death.

The pair had spent the previous evening at Mr Plass' mother's house. He later drove Ms Knell home on his motorcycle, because he had an early start at work the following day.

They kissed goodnight, and she waved him off from her porch.

"That was the last time I saw Wendy alive," he said.

"Not a day goes by when I don't feel guilty about her death. If I'd stayed the night she would be alive today."

After Ms Knell failed to turn up to work as manager at Supasnaps in Camden Road, her mother called Mr Plass at work and he drove to her flat in Guildford Road.

He did not have a key and after ringing her bell, banging on the door and calling her name, got no answer.

Mr Plass went around the back of the house and climbed on to a corrugated roof and through a window into her flat, which was not securable, the court heard.

"Once in, I just stood there," he said.

"I could see Wendy's head sticking out of the duvet. I stroked her hair and pulled her duvet back past her shoulders.

"I lifted her arm, and opened her eyelids, but she didn't move.

"I couldn't believe she was gone."

Mr Plass was locked inside the flat. Ms Knell's keys, with a keyring Mr Plass had bought her, were never found.

He climbed back out the window and ran to a nearby fire station for help.

"I sat down and cried my eyes out," he said.

The pair had been planning a trip to Paris together, and Ms Knell had told colleague at work she was "really excited" and the pair of them "were going to get married", the court heard.

Ms Pierce was abducted from outside her home in Grosvenor Park on 24 November, and a number of neighbours reported hearing a woman screaming.

In statements read out in court, one said they could hear a woman saying "no" repeatedly, and the screams continued for about 30 seconds.

Despite people looking out their windows, nobody saw Ms Pierce.

Three weeks later her body was discovered by a farmer, more than 40 miles away in Romney Marsh.

He found her in a water-filled dyke along the roadside, the court heard.

She was in the foetal position, naked from the waist up, and only wearing a pair of dark tights.

Duncan Atkinson QC for the prosecution said she was without her underwear, suggesting she had been re-dressed.

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