Shamed funeral director Robert Bush has offered an apology “without qualification” to the families left devastated by his mistreatment of their deceased loved ones, a court heard.
Following two days of emotional testimony from his victims, Bush’s lawyers began to give his version of events for the first time on Wednesday, telling a judge: “He has expressed himself to the court, and through the court to the families, as being sorry.”
Defence barrister addresses court
Richard Wright KC, defending, addressed the court after prosecutors said Bush should face between 20 and 25 years in prison for multiple charges of preventing lawful burials, fraud and theft. Mr Wright said: “Nothing I can say is intended to dull their (the families) pain, anger or the sense of betrayal.”
He told the court: “Over the course of the last two-and-a-half days the court, and through the unprecedented global media coverage, the world, has listened quietly as victim after victim after victim of Robert Bush has either come forward to read their own victim personal statements or has had their statements read on their behalf.”
“He has heard witness after witness castigate his character and heard their entirely understandable anger, pain and outrage, all directed at him. And, all rightly directed at him.”
Impact on families
The barrister said his client’s offending has caused pain, anguish and upset “on a scale that it’s difficult to comprehend.” Mr Wright said Bush has written to the court to apologise and “he offers that apology without qualification and he accepts that responsibility.”
The 48-year-old is to be sentenced for 67 offences spanning 12 years and affecting hundreds of victims at his business, Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull. A court has heard that he 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.
Mitigation and explanation
Continuing his mitigation, Mr Wright said: “Dignity in death matters and there can be no hiding from the fact that, by his conduct, Robert Bush has deprived the dead (and) their families, of that basic dignity.” He said: “Whether or not he conducted hundreds or thousands of funerals perfectly properly, his criminal conduct taints every family.” And he accepted that Bush had “tainted the memory of every person who has been through his hands”.
Mr Wright said he accepted that his client’s apology “is likely to be angrily rejected as some late attempt to gain some trifling advantage”. He said: “We submit it is not that.” Mr Wright said Bush prioritised himself and his family over his customers and their loved ones. He told the court: “There are demands for answers – where did the money go, why did he do it? They are all very good questions. Questions assume there are good answers or clear explanations that explain his behaviour. Greed, incompetence, the passage of time, an inability to keep up with his own failings. We submit all of these are likely to have played a part, though none satisfactorily answers the questions.”
Prosecution sentencing guidelines
On the third day of Bush’s sentencing on Wednesday, prosecutor Steven Ball outlined the sentencing guidelines for each of Bush’s offences. Asked by the judge what prosecutors thought the total sentence should be, he said: “It’s a difficult question to navigate… but somewhere between 20 and 25 years.” The court heard there were no sentencing guidelines and no maximum penalty for the offence of preventing a lawful burial, and previous cases did not reflect what Bush was doing. “This is an unprecedented case,” Mr Ball said.
Spending details
Earlier in the day, the court heard that Bush spent more than £42,000 on holidays while he was defrauding scores of customers. He also spent £9,000 on camping and almost £7,000 on motorcycle racing in the year he told a grieving mother that her unborn baby had been cremated, while leaving it on the floor of his funeral home in a paper bag. Financial records submitted to the court showed that between 2017 and 2024, when he was arrested, Bush spent more than £42,000 on holidays, £21,000 on motorcycle racing and £17,400 on home improvements.
Throughout that time, the court has heard, he was defrauding customers by taking money for funeral plans he was not authorised to set up, and giving families the wrong ashes for their loved ones. Prosecutors said his holiday spending over the seven years included £6,400 on three trips to Center Parcs, £3,800 on a trip to Italy, and £3,000 on the holiday he was taking with his daughter in Arizona when the horrors at the funeral home were discovered.
Background of case
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, and theft from the 12 charities. 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.
