Funeral director Robert Bush mistreated hundreds of families on an ‘almost industrial scale’ and in a ‘myriad of ways’ – some of them shared their heartache in devastating victim impact statements
A funeral directors was described as a “horror scene” after a “large number of bodies” were discovered. One sergeant was left utterly “shocked” after discovering a paper bag and opening it to find a foetus inside at Legacy in Hull.
Prosecuting, Chris Paxton KC said a sergeant found a bag and initially thought it contained a baby bird and only realised it was a human foetus because of a hospital ID band around the baby’s wrist which said ‘Baby of Jasmine Beverley’ with a date next to it.
Officers also discovered a naked dead body left lying on the floor and dead bodies with hospital ID bracelets still on their wrists and ankles. Flowers and teddies had been swept to the sides on the floor.
When Robert Bush was later arrested on a plane after returning from a holiday to Arizona he told officers: “I f***** it all up, everything my whole world.”
Mr Paxton said Bush “breached trust on an almost industrial scale in a myriad of ways” by selling funeral plans when not authorised to do so, failing to bury bodies and providing the wrong ashes.
Paxton says Bush “raised expectations, made false promises” and stole charity donations.. His crimes “impacted young and old alike across the community of Hull and beyond.”
A judge was told the scandal came to light after two other funeral directors and another man, Patrick Moore, were brought in to assist Bush by collecting a body from a care home while he was absent in March 2024.
The court heard Mr Moore 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, 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 adds.
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.
Some of the hundreds of victims started reading their victim impact statements as his five-day sentencing hearing got under way.
Norman Bridger’s body was recovered from Legacy premises, in a cardboard coffin, 10 months after his death. His family had already had a funeral for him, and his daughter, Karen King, had lockets for her and her mother containing the ashes given to her by Bush.
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 body was recovered from Legacy eight months after his death.
His partner Kathryn Howard stopped several times to compose herself while reading 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.”
Relatives gasped as a court heard Robert Bush had £3.7 million paid into his bank account over seven years.
However, the court heard the turnover declared to HMRC during these years does not match that figure. The prosecutor claims that the total amount swindled from customers exceeded £500,000.
Mr Paxton said Bush told 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 said Bush replied “no comment” when asked if human ashes were provided to families of persons who had yet to be cremated.
He said 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.