Funeral director Robert Bush, who gave grieving families the wrong ashes while their loved ones' remains lay decomposing, faces sentencing at Hull Crown Court for more than 65 offences spanning 12 years, with hundreds of victims and their families impacted.
Details of the offences
Bush pleaded guilty to 67 offences. The 48-year-old gave grieving families the wrong ashes while their loved ones' bodies were left at his site for months. Impact statements from those affected will be read to court.
Police were contacted by someone with access to the Legacy Independent Funeral Directors site in March 2024, expressing concerns over "care of the deceased" at the Hull business. Officers found 31 bodies that should have been cremated months earlier, including a stillborn baby that had been there for almost two years. They also found more than 100 sets of ashes, some with name labels and letters attached.
Fraud and theft
Investigators learned that Bush committed fraudulent trading in relation to funeral plans, taking payment but not passing money on to financial institutions. He also stole from charities by failing to pass on donations collected at funerals.
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 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 they were "the remains of their unborn". He also pleaded guilty to a further fraud charge covering the ashes of 57 people between 2017 and 2024, and one count of fraudulent trading relating to funeral plans between 2012 and 2024.
Sentencing hearing
Bereaved families who were victims of Legacy Funeral Services are due to attend Hull Crown Court for the start of a five-day hearing. The judge is expected to hear up to 200 victim impact statements.
Campaigner Karen Dry, 57, who entrusted both her parents' remains to Bush, said: “I feel apprehensive but am praying for justice and a very long sentence. I’m nervous. It actually makes me really cross that he hasn’t been held on remand.”
She added: “They let him walk out of court a free man after he admitted these sheer evil acts. This has devastated families and the funeral industry at large.”
Bush, formerly of Kirk Ella, East Yorkshire, but now of Otley, West Yorkshire, is on conditional bail.
