Funeral directors guilty of neglecting bodies

Two funeral directors who kept bodies in an unrefrigerated room for more than a month have been found guilty of preventing lawful burial.

Richard Elkin, 49, and Hayley Bell, 42, were also convicted at Portsmouth Crown Court of intentionally causing a public nuisance and fraud.

Prosecutors said 46 bodies were kept in the uncooled mortuary at Elkin and Bell Funerals in Gosport, Hampshire, in 2022 and 2023.

The pair will be sentenced on 19 February.

Lesley Bates KC, prosecuting, previously said the bodies of two elderly men were found by court agents who were repossessing the premises because of debts including more than £13,000 in unpaid rent.

Ms Bates said: "Water was coming in through a leak in the roof of the mortuary room, it was running down the walls.

"The room was not refrigerated. The temperature within the mortuary room was no different to elsewhere in the premises."

Ms Bates said one body, of William Mitchell, 87, "showed obvious signs of decomposition" after remaining in the room for 36 days.

She said Mr Mitchell's family were "incredulous" when they learned his body had not been cremated.