Hull Funeral Director Sentencing
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Some deeply disturbing details are emerging from Hull Crown Court in the north of England, where a funeral director is being sentenced for what prosecutors describe as misconduct and fraud on an almost industrial scale. Robert Bush has admitted to 67 offences spanning over a decade. from giving grieving families the wrong ashes to leaving bodies unburied. Angus Young, freelance journalist based in Hull, joins us now. Angus, can you tell us first, who is Robert Bush? What has he admitted to?
Hi, good morning. Robert Bush is now 48 years old and he was the owner of his own company, Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull. And he worked in the funeral business for 14 years and his company had operated from a number of offices in and around Hull. He was arrested in March 2024 at Gatwick Airport on his return from a holiday in America. And that's really when the story started.
OK, we'll take us back to the beginning. How was what he had done uncovered?
Right, well, it's a pretty wild story and quite a grim story, as you say. But while he was away in America on holiday, a casual worker at his company actually blew the whistle. He told two staff working for another funeral directors in Hull that he was worried about the number of bodies being stored at Legacy's main cold storage depot warehouse and the fact that many had been there before he'd actually started working with the company six months earlier. Now, these two guys were so alarmed by what they heard from this chap that they persuaded them to open up the premises. And when they got there, they were so shocked by what they saw, they actually stepped outside and flagged down a passing police car.
And that's how the police became involved.
And how many bodies did they discover there?
Well, the police have obviously conducted a huge search that went on for the best part of a week at the premises. And as a result of the search and the investigation, they charged, as you say, Robert Bush with a total of 67 offences. And including in that is the charges relating to the prevention of the lawful and decent burial of 30 bodies.
And relatives had been given the ashes of what they assumed were the remains of their deceased loved ones. What had they actually been given?
Well, that's right, and this is the really horrific part of the story, aside from what was actually found in the warehouse.
Who is Robert Bush and what did he admit to in the Hull funeral scandal?
I should say there was fairly harrowing details given in the hearing earlier this week about bodies being stacked on racks, a body on a stretcher. Lots of the bodies were in a state of partial decon position, and it was a very grim scene. But the ashes that people were given with were basically not their ashes of their elders. Obviously, there'd been bodies in there for more than six months and in that period of time, people had been giving the bodies of the loved ones to legacy. There'd been funeral services conducted, cremations, ashes had been returned. But in fact, the bodies were still in the premises.
By pleading guilty, was a detailed trial avoided? Did the court get to hear from any of the relatives of these people about the impact of this discovery on them?
Well, that's right. He has pleaded guilty to all this. So it has negated the need for a very lengthy trial. It has been one of the most complex investigations that Humberside Police have ever conducted. And it's a very unusual legal situation in terms of the law that's been broken or the laws that have been broken. But yes, there have been several victim statements that have been read out in court this week, some by relatives and some by lawyers on their behalf. And as you might imagine, There's been some harrowing accounts of what was discovered and their experiences, particularly those who thought that relatives had been buried and cremated when, in fact, they were still in cold storage. And, of course, many of those people were presented with ashes by Bush and the people from the East Coast.
What's the wider impact within the community of Hull been like? Because, you know, you take things like this on faith when somebody is sent for cremation, that it is going to be their ashes that they get back.
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