Prosecutors have argued that fraudulent funeral director Robert Bush should be sentenced to between 20 and 25 years in prison. Bush, 48, is being sentenced for 67 offences committed over 12 years at his business, Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull.
The court heard that Bush breached the trust of grieving families “on an almost industrial scale” by keeping bodies for months after they should have been cremated, giving out the wrong ashes, taking money for funeral plans without making arrangements, and stealing charity donations collected at services.
Prosecutor's sentencing submission
On the third day of Bush’s sentencing, prosecutor Steven Ball outlined the guidelines for each offence. When asked by the judge what total sentence prosecutors thought appropriate, Ball said: “It’s a difficult question to navigate… but somewhere between 20 and 25 years.”
Ball noted there were no sentencing guidelines and no maximum penalty for the offence of preventing a lawful burial, and previous cases did not reflect Bush’s actions. “This is an unprecedented case,” he said.
Spending on holidays and luxuries
The court heard that Bush spent more than £42,000 on holidays while defrauding customers. He also spent £9,000 on camping and almost £7,000 on motorcycle racing in the year he told a grieving mother her unborn baby had been cremated, while leaving it on the floor of his funeral home in a paper bag.
Financial records from 2017 to 2024 showed Bush spent over £42,000 on holidays, £21,000 on motorcycle racing, and £17,400 on home improvements. During that period, he was defrauding customers by taking money for funeral plans he was not authorised to set up and giving families the wrong ashes.
Judge Mr Justice Hilliard asked for a detailed breakdown of Bush’s spending, saying: “I think people who have lost their money will want to know what it went on.”
Detailed holiday and retail spending
Prosecutors said his holiday spending over seven years included £6,400 on three trips to Center Parcs, £3,800 on a trip to Italy, and £3,000 on a holiday in Arizona with his daughter when the horrors at the funeral home were discovered. Records showed that in 2022, the year he failed to cremate Jasmine Beverley’s baby Sunny Beverley-Conlin, he spent more than £9,000 on camping.
Prosecutors also highlighted nearly £10,000 of retail spending, including £1,000 at Boodles jewellers, and £3,385 on restaurants, including a £250 meal at Covent Garden’s Clos Maggiore.
Between March 2017 and April 2024, almost £1.49 million was transferred into Bush’s personal bank account from Legacy business accounts. Ball added that the total received in Legacy and Bush’s accounts was more than £3 million, but the turnover reported to Companies House and HMRC did not reflect this.
Theft from charities and false ashes
The court earlier heard that Bush stole money from 12 charities by not passing on donations collected at funeral services, including the Salvation Army, Macmillan Cancer Support, Help for Heroes, the RNLI, and local groups. Mary Jane Roberts collected between £300 and £600 for Macmillan at the funeral of her mother Lynne Wheal, who died from cancer in 2022. Bush told her: “We’ll take care of it, don’t worry.” Ms Roberts remembered thinking “how nice he was for giving them one less thing to worry about”, but Macmillan never received the donation.
When police raided Legacy, they found an empty envelope labelled “Donations in memory of Matthew Craig. Thank you.” The envelope should have contained donations for Dove House Hospice, collected by his mother Jayne Waudby.
The judge heard that Bush kept 31 bodies at the funeral home while telling families they had been cremated and giving them the ashes of a stranger. He also sold false funeral plans worth more than £500,000, covering more than 200 people.
Victim impact and guilty pleas
Over two days earlier this week, more than 80 people faced Bush to tell how he devastated their lives, or had their statements read. Many broke down in tears describing Bush’s “callous” disregard for their relatives.
Bush sat in the glass-fronted dock, wearing a dark suit as he listened to the prosecution case continue on Wednesday. Ball told the court: “Every person in a civilised society is entitled to dignity in death. Funeral directors are expected to conduct themselves with professionalism and compassion. Not to do so represents an egregious breach of trust.”
Police were called to Legacy’s Hessle Road premises in March 2024 after concerns were raised, and officers found 35 bodies and more than 100 sets of ashes. In April, Bush pleaded guilty to 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial, theft from 12 charities, 30 counts of fraud by false representation, four “foetus allegations” of fraud, a further fraud charge covering ashes of 57 people, and one count of fraudulent trading relating to funeral plans between 2012 and 2024.
