Robert Bush, 48, is due to appear before Mr Justice Hilliard at Hull Crown Court on Friday for sentencing over 67 offences committed over 12 years while running Legacy Independent Funeral Directors. The case has been described by prosecutors as unprecedented, with more than 200 victims recounting the harm caused during a five-day hearing.
Court hears of 'industrial scale' abuse of trust
Bush admitted breaching the trust of grieving families “on an almost industrial scale”, the court was told. His offending included keeping bodies for months after they should have been cremated, handing out the wrong ashes, taking money for funeral plans without arranging funerals, and pocketing charity donations collected at services. Prosecutors argued that he should receive a prison sentence of between 20 and 25 years, but noted there are no sentencing guidelines and no maximum penalty for preventing a lawful burial — the offence covering 30 of the charges.
Victims describe impact
Over four days, more than 200 statements were read, many in person by relatives who broke down in tears. The statements included families of 31 people whose bodies should have been cremated, among them the mother of an unborn baby whose remains were found in a paper bag on the floor. More than 50 people discovered they had been given the wrong ashes only after police raided the funeral home and found urns and packaging labelled with their names.
How the offences came to light
In March 2024, while Bush was on holiday in Arizona, he asked directors of another funeral firm to assist with a body recovery. A casual worker at Legacy told them "out of the blue" that bodies had been at the site "for years" and described it as "a horror scene". The men contacted police, who searched the premises and found bodies on racks in a cold storage area, mostly uncovered and in varying stages of decomposition.
The rest of the site was in a "lamentable state", with ashes inside mouldy boxes and scattered across the floor, photographs left out of coffins and jewellery never returned to families.
Fraud and charity theft
The investigation found Bush sold fraudulent funeral plans to more than 220 people, making over £500,000. He also stole money from 12 charities by keeping donations collected at services, including the Salvation Army, Macmillan Cancer Support, Help for Heroes, the RNLI and local groups. Over the seven years of defrauding customers, his spending included £42,000 on holidays, £21,000 on motorcycle racing and £17,400 on home improvements.
Guilty pleas and mitigation
In April, Bush pleaded guilty to 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial and theft from the 12 charities. He had previously admitted 30 counts of fraud by false representation relating to bodies found at the site, four fraud charges over presenting ashes to women as "the remains of their unborn", a further fraud charge covering ashes of 57 people between 2017 and 2024, and one count of fraudulent trading relating to funeral plans between 2012 and 2024.
Richard Wright KC, mitigating, said Bush had put himself and his family before his customers and was now treated as a "pariah – hated and despised". Sentencing is scheduled to begin at midday.
