Robert Bush, 48, is to be sentenced for 67 offences spanning 12 years and affecting hundreds of victims at Hull Crown Court. The 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 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 added: "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."
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. However, when his daughter Angela Scottow contacted the crematorium, staff said they had no record of him being cremated there. Ms Scottow said: "Dad was such a lovely man and Robert Bush treated him like a piece of meat. 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."
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. He added: "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."
Details of Offences
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.
