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 father “like a piece of meat”.
Bush, 48, is to be sentenced for 67 offences spanning 12 years and affecting hundreds of victims. 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.
Victim impact statements
The family of Jim Porter, 80, whose body was recovered from Legacy Independent Funeral Directors with hospital bands still on his wrists, noticed at his funeral that his coffin did not look big enough. His daughter Tina Thames said: “Dad told me and my brother and sister that he didn't want a fancy or expensive funeral. ... When the police told me there was a possibility that Dad was still at Legacy, I was devastated. ... The only way I can describe it is like seeing images of the bodies found in Auschwitz during the war.”
The court also heard from the family of Terry White, 73, whose body was recovered from Legacy more than two months after his death. His family collected ashes with a Chanterlands Crematorium label, but the crematorium had no record of him. His daughter Angela Scottow said: “Dad was such a lovely man and Robert Bush treated him like a piece of meat.”
Wider fraud
Bush committed fraud relating to 57 sets of ashes – 46 families given the wrong ashes, and 11 families given none at all. Prosecutor Chris Paxton KC said the total monetary value was £86,868. The court also heard of a woman given the wrong ashes for both her husband and her sister, whose ashes were found at Legacy.
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, and four “foetus allegations” of fraud. He also pleaded guilty to a further fraud charge covering the ashes of 57 people and one of fraudulent trading regarding funeral plans.
