Disgraced funeral boss who failed to bury bodies jailed for 20 years

A funeral director who failed to bury or cremate people and gave bereaved relatives the ashes of strangers has been jailed for 20 years.

Some 35 bodies and more than 100 sets of ashes were found by police raiding Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull in March 2024.

Robert Bush admitted 67 offences, including denying 30 people a decent and proper burial, theft from 12 charities, and fraudulent trading over a period of almost 12 years.

Sentencing him at Hull Crown Court, Judge Mr Justice Hilliard told the former undertaker he had "caused anguish and pain on a scale beyond comprehension".

This story contains details some might find distressing.

The court heard Bush defrauded nearly 200 families out of £562,117 and had acted out of "financial greed".

Hilliard warned that unless a body was one of those recovered by police in 2024 and properly identified, no-one who had used Legacy's cremations services "at any time can be absolutely certain they received the ashes of their loved one".

"He must have a heartless side to him - which allowed him to treat the living and the dead in the way he did, and he was very confident he would get away with what he was doing."

The judge added: "I don't think I have ever known offences affecting so many people and so deeply."

The court was told relatives of 46 people who were cremated between 2017 and 2024 were given the wrong ashes and the loved ones of another 11 never received any.

"How betrayed they now feel," said the judge.

"Husbands and wives, partners, parents, children, grandchildren, now discovering that they are left with nothing, or in some cases we heard, an empty plastic bag or a teaspoonful of ash which the police managed to recover for them."

The five-day hearing, which began on Monday, heard Bush breached the trust of his customers "on an almost industrial scale".

His victims sobbed as prosecutors revealed graphic details about the "chaotic conditions" found inside the funeral home, including how police found the remains of a stillborn baby in a bag on the floor.

Bodies had been left to decompose, unidentified ashes were left in mouldy boxes, and excrement and bodily fluids were found on the floor, which was also strewn with rubbish and family photographs.

More than 200 victims described the devastating and psychological impact of Bush's crimes, many of them weeping as they read out their statements to the court.

Following sentencing, Joanne Moody, whose father Peter Moody was among the 35 bodies recovered from Legacy, said she felt "really, really let down" by the sentence.

"He's going to be out in 10 years. How is that in any way, shape or form right?"

She told the BBC Bush took "the last bit of dignity" from their loved ones.

"He destroyed it," she said. "Why? Why do it to us?"

Michaela Baldwin, whose stepfather Danny Middleton's body was also recovered from the premises, said Bush should have got "at least 30 years - one for each body".

Bush's crimes were discovered by chance while he was on holiday, following a tip-off from two funeral directors from a different firm who had visited the premises.

The 48-year-old was arrested days later when he landed at Heathrow Airport, later telling police he had debts of about £90,000 and a cash flow problem.

But the court heard between March 2017 and April 2024, more than £3m had entered both his personal and Legacy's bank accounts.

On Friday the judge said: "There was no problem with Bush's cash flow - the only problem was the direction it was flowing."

Instead of investing in his business to pay for mortuary fridges and the care of the deceased, Bush "chose" to spend the money on holidays, home improvements and his motorcycle racing hobby.

Hilliard said Bush, of Otley in West Yorkshire, was "preoccupied with his own enrichment".

"If [Bush] could re-use a coffin someone had already paid for, he would do so. If it was cheaper to keep someone in non-refrigerated conditions, he would do that too."

During that same period, Bush "stole at least £5,540 and very possibly more than that" from 12 charities that did not receive donations collected at the end of funeral services.

Following sentencing, Det Sup Al Curtis, of Humberside Police, said it was "just impossible" to put a number on how many people had been affected by Bush's actions.

"The distress and heartbreak that this investigation has caused for families is simply unimaginable, and even after working on this case rigorously over the last couple of years, the sheer impact this has had on our whole community, and further afield, remains unprecedented," he said.

He described it as the "biggest and most complex investigation" in the force's history, with 300 affected victims and the seizure of "3,000 exhibits and 12,000 items of disclosure".

Outside court, Karen Dry, who used Legacy's services for her parents' funerals in 2016 and 2018, called for a public inquiry, adding the funeral industry was "currently in desperate need of strict regulation".

Currently, the funeral industry in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is self-regulating, relying on voluntary codes and inspections by trade associations.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he wanted to ensure "the highest standards" applied to the sector.

He said: "This needs a proper response in terms of the regulation needed, to make sure no family goes through that again.

"People, I think, would assume that the highest standards apply to this area and we've got to make sure that they do apply and that there can't be any repeat of what we've seen."

The Department of Health and Social Care has since announced it would develop "proposals for formal regulation of the funeral sector" in order to "ensure better protection for bereaved families".

In a statement, it said it would work with other government departments to "crack down on rogue operators in the funeral sector".

"As part of this work, the Law Commission will undertake a review of the criminal law in relation to the deceased, consider any gaps in existing legal protections and make recommendations on the creation of new offences, if they are needed."

Health and Social Care Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "Every person in every situation deserves dignity in death, and every bereaved family deserves certainty that their loved ones are being treated with care and respect."

The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) previously told the BBC Legacy had been a member for a number of years but resigned membership of its organisation in 2021.

It said it had inspected a former premises operated by Bush in 2018, when some of his alleged offending took place, and he had "met the requirements we needed".

Post-sentencing, NAFD chief executive Andrew Judd said: "We did not inspect Legacy, we had no knowledge he was operating at that premises because he moved the business without telling us.

"We haven't ever had eyes inside the horrific scene that the victims have experienced."

Bush's crimes date as far back as 2012, two years after he set up Legacy.

Prior to that, he worked for other funeral businesses in the city and oversaw 2,000 funerals during his career.

If you have been affected by issues surrounding bereavement, information is available via BBC Action Line, including contact details of organisations that can help.