A grieving daughter said the horrors at Robert Bush's funeral parlour made her think of “bodies found in Auschwitz”, while another described the fraudster treating her “lovely” father “like a piece of meat”.
A court heard how Bush was a “cruel conman” who “fooled a lot of people in Hull with his mild manner” while using their grief to fund his lifestyle.
Bush, 48, is to be sentenced for 67 offences spanning 12 years and affecting hundreds of victims.
Bodies kept at funeral home
Hull Crown Court heard how he kept 31 bodies, including an unborn baby in a paper bag, at his funeral home while falsely telling their families they had been cremated and giving them the ashes of a stranger.
As the second day of the sentencing hearing got under way on Tuesday, the court heard how the family of Jim Porter, 80, whose body was recovered from Legacy Independent Funeral Directors with his hospital identification bands still on his wrists and ankle, noticed at his funeral that his coffin did not look big enough for him.
His daughter Tina Thames said: “Dad told me and my brother and sister that he didn’t want a fancy or expensive funeral.
“He just wanted us to celebrate his life.
“Legacy Independent Funeral Directors were a local firm and offered a reasonably priced service.
“It seemed a good choice for us. How wrong we were.”
She went on to say: “When the police told me there was a possibility that Dad was still at Legacy, I was devastated.
“I had nightmares and thoughts of bodies just piled up came into my mind.
“The only way I can describe it is like seeing images of the bodies found in Auschwitz during the war.”
Family of Terry White
The court also heard from the family of Terry White, 73, whose body was recovered from Legacy more than two months after his death on Christmas Eve 2023.
His family collected ashes from Legacy, which were in a box with a Chanterlands Crematorium label.
But when Mr White’s daughter Angela Scottow contacted the crematorium to ask for a plot near her sister’s, staff said they had no record of him being cremated there.
Ms Scottow’s victim impact statement said: “Dad was such a lovely man and Robert Bush treated him like a piece of meat.”
She went on to say: “I feel only anger, hatred and disgust for the man I trusted to treat my dad with dignity and respect.
“He knew exactly what he was doing. He stripped all dignity from our loved ones, and for what? Money? He disgusts me.”
Impact on families
The grandson of Susan Stone, 77, whose body was also found at Legacy, said that his grandfather was “destroyed” by the discovery, while his father fell into depression and drug use.
Callum Stone said that Eric, Mrs Stone’s husband of many years, was “not the same man”, until his death in May this year.
His statement also described how his father “fell into a pit of depression following the news at Legacy and relapsed back into drug use”.
He went on to say: “I’ve learned not to blame myself for the choice of funeral director for my nana but I have taken from it that the cheaper option isn’t always the best and to make sure that I get all of the documentation prior to committing to any contracts.”
Fraud and wrong ashes
As well as the bodies found at Legacy, the court heard Bush committed fraud in relation to 57 sets of ashes – including 46 families who were given the wrong ashes, and 11 families who were never given any at all.
Prosecutor Chris Paxton KC said the total monetary value of this fraud was £86,868.
Among these was Alan Chearman, whose family collected his ashes on July 26 2022, wanting to scatter them on that day as it was the anniversary of his son’s death.
Records showed he was not cremated until August that year, and Bush did not collect the ashes until October.
When police searched the Legacy site they seized a box with a sticker on which read: “Woodland’s crematorium – cremated remains of the late Alan Chearman.”
His widow Shelley Chearman looked towards Bush in court as she told him: “You fooled a lot of people in Hull with your mild manner, when in fact you are a cruel conman. You use people’s grief to fund your lifestyle.”
More victims' stories
Paul Hemingway’s sister Maxine Penrose received what she thought were her brother’s ashes in August 2022, and had some of them mixed with her father’s ashes and made into a ring which she wore every day.
Police later found he had not been cremated until October 2022.
Ms Penrose said: “I feel like I am left in limbo, not knowing what happened to Paul’s ashes, who has been given them and where are they now.
“I can’t stop thinking about how Paul was left there for 73 days after his funeral. I have been thinking how was Paul stored.
“Was he there when we collected the ashes? How could Rob hand the ashes over knowing that Paul was still there and not cremated?”
The court heard that another woman had been given the wrong ashes for both her husband and her sister, whose ashes were both found at Legacy during the investigation.
Rebecca Thompson, whose father Martin Sawyers’ ashes were recovered from Legacy, said: “I have so many questions that will likely forever remain unanswered, but my biggest question is why?
“Why continue taking on more funerals when you couldn’t afford to properly carry out the ones you already accepted.
“There is no shame in being in financial difficulty but to punish the deceased and rob them of a peaceful send off is nothing short of pure evil.”
Bush's guilty pleas
Kelly Robinson, who was given the wrong ashes for her mother Sylvia Osler, said the family took Bush chocolates and a card to thank him for caring for her.
Her statement read: “My brother handed them to him on his way to work – while our mam was still there, discarded and forgotten.
“The thought of Bush accepting that card and gift, offering condolences, knowing full well what he had done – that haunts me. It haunts all of us.”
Hull Crown Court heard that over 12 years, Bush breached the trust placed in him by 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 any of the arrangements and stealing charity donations collected at services.
In April Bush pleaded guilty to 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial, and theft from 12 charities including the Salvation Army and Macmillan Cancer Support.
He had already admitted 30 counts of fraud by false representation relating to bodies found at the site, and four “foetus allegations” of fraud, where he presented ashes to women falsely saying that they were “the remains of their unborn”.
Bush also pleaded guilty to a further charge of fraud, covering the ashes of 57 people between 2017 and 2024, and one of fraudulent trading relating to funeral plans between 2012 and 2024.
