A funeral parlour in Hull has been branded a "horror scene" after a "large number of bodies" were uncovered on the premises. One sergeant was left utterly "shocked" upon discovering a paper bag at Legacy in Hull, only to find a foetus inside.
Police discover foetus in paper bag
Prosecuting, Chris Paxton KC revealed that the sergeant initially believed the bag contained a baby bird, only realising it held a human foetus when he noticed a hospital ID band around the baby's wrist bearing the name 'Baby of Jasmine Beverley' alongside a date.
Officers further uncovered a naked body left on the floor, as well as deceased individuals still wearing hospital ID bracelets on their wrists and ankles. Flowers and soft toys had been pushed aside and left scattered across the floor.
Robert Bush's arrest and confession
When Robert Bush was subsequently arrested aboard a flight after returning from a holiday in Arizona, he told officers: "I f***** it all up, everything my whole world."
Mr Paxton stated that Bush "breached trust on an almost industrial scale in a myriad of ways" by selling funeral plans without authorisation, failing to carry out burials and providing families with the wrong ashes. Paxton added that Bush "raised expectations, made false promises" and stole charity donations, with his crimes having "impacted young and old alike across the community of Hull and beyond."
How the scandal came to light
The judge was informed that the scandal first came to light after two fellow funeral directors and another man, Patrick Moore, were called upon to assist Bush by collecting a body from a care home during his absence in March 2024. The court was told that Mr Moore had informed the funeral directors that Bush had previously instructed him not to bring anyone back to Legacy.
"He believed it was due to the smells coming from the fridge," the prosecutor said. He also told them: "You two don't know the half of it, bodies have been there for years." He said he counted up to 29 bodies and described it as "something from a horror scene."
The directors were "shocked by what they saw" and flagged down a passing police car and relayed the details, before three officers attended the site.
Inside the funeral home
Inside, police discovered "a large number of human bodies within a cold storage area" in the building, Hull Crown Court heard. The bodies were "stored on the racks on both sides of the room" and the "vast majority were uncovered and in varying states of decomposition", he added. There was "evidence of human putrefaction".
"Many bodies had hospital identity bracelets on their wrists or ankles. Some had biological hazard bracelets on, while others had no identifying markers," he said.
Victim impact statements
As the five-day sentencing hearing got under way, some of the hundreds of victims began reading their victim impact statements.
Norman Bridger's body was recovered from the Legacy premises in a cardboard coffin, a full 10 months after his death. His family had already held a funeral service for him, and his daughter, Karen King, had been given lockets by Bush containing what she believed to be ashes, for both herself and her mother.
She said: "I collected what I thought were dad's ashes around three weeks after his funeral. I put some of them in a special locket for me and mum that we both wore around our necks, it felt important to us both to have dad still close to us. I now feel violated that I have had some unknown person's ashes so close to me. Mum still had what we had believed to be dad's ashes at home with her. It added to our distress having to take them from her. Mum is 94 years old, she is very frail and suffers from dementia and cancer, I haven't been able to bring myself to tell her about what Bush has done to dad."
Jonathan Butler's remains were retrieved from Legacy eight months following his death. His partner Kathryn Howard paused on several occasions to regain her composure while delivering her victim impact statement. "An apology would not be enough for me. It could never take away the pain and grief that I feel for enduring not one but two funerals for my lovely John. I wouldn't wish it on anyone."
Financial fraud revealed
Relatives gasped as the court heard that Robert Bush had received £3.7 million into his bank account across seven years. However, the court heard that the turnover declared to HMRC during this period does not match that figure. The prosecutor claims that the total amount swindled from customers exceeded £500,000.
Mr Paxton stated that Bush informed officers he had debts of around £90,000. He said: "He believed there were around 30 bodies at the Hessle Road site and that five or six of these were recent and in the process of waiting to be cremated. In respect of the older bodies that had not been cremated due to cashflow issues, his plan had been to generate more business and clear the backlog within two to three months. He believed the oldest body that was retained was from April 2023. He said these were generally of older people above the age of 60."
Mr Paxton revealed that Bush replied "no comment" when asked if human ashes were provided to families of persons who had yet to be cremated. He added that Bush explained that he had no system of identifying where bodies were placed at the site, as he had "personally retained this information".
The five-day sentencing continues.
