Robert Bush, owner of Legacy Independent Funeral Services in Hull, has been jailed for 20 years after pleading guilty to 67 offences, including 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial. His actions, spanning 12 years, affected hundreds of families who had entrusted him with the remains of their loved ones.
During a five-day sentencing hearing at Hull crown court, more than 80 victims recounted the horror of learning that relatives had been left "rotting away" inside his funeral parlour. The court heard that bodies were found uncovered and lying on racks in varying states of decomposition, with damp and mould spreading to coffins and ash boxes, while dried body fluids and faeces were left on the floor.
Among the 35 bodies recovered was that of Sunny Beverley-Conlin, a baby miscarried at 18 weeks in May 2022. His parents had believed he was cremated, but his remains were found inside Legacy almost two years later. The baby's mother, Jasmine Beverley, told Bush: "I trusted Rob with the most precious and important person in my life." In another case, the body of 94-year-old Norman Bridger lay in a cardboard coffin for almost 11 months before being recovered.
Several families had been given the wrong ashes, with some receiving remains consistent with adult bone fragments rather than infant ashes, and others given material resembling animal remains. Some of the wrong ashes had been turned into jewellery, and in one instance were intended to be incorporated into a tattoo.
The judge, Mr Justice Hilliard, said Bush was "so preoccupied with his own enrichment that he behaved in a shocking and disgraceful way towards the deceased." Bush was arrested on 10 March while returning from a £3,000 holiday in Arizona, funded by his funeral fraud. Following his arrest, he told officers: "I fucked it all up, everything, my whole world."
The government has since said it plans to crack down on "rogue operators" in the funeral industry, including developing proposals for formal regulation. Health secretary Yvette Cooper described Bush's actions as "utterly abhorrent" and said her thoughts were with the bereaved families in Hull who had been so badly let down.
