A funeral director in Hull has been described in court as having betrayed families' trust on an "almost industrial scale" after leaving loved ones' bodies to decompose while handing relatives the wrong ashes. Robert Bush, 48, owner of Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, appeared at Hull crown court on Monday for a five-day sentencing hearing after previously pleading guilty to 67 offences, including 30 counts of preventing lawful and decent burial. The case matters because it exposes a profound breach of trust in an industry built on it, leaving grieving families with lasting psychological trauma from discovering their relatives had never been properly cremated or buried.

Victim impact statements described relatives receiving strangers' ashes, sometimes handed over with Bush smiling, while their actual loved ones' bodies remained undiscovered for months at his premises. Examples included Shirley Wright, whose body was found five months after her death, and Colin Wainman, recovered 198 days after he died. When Humberside police searched the premises in March 2024, they found numerous decomposing bodies stored on racks, one naked body on a stretcher on the floor, and personal items such as flowers and teddy bears swept under the floor; the remains of a stillborn baby, Sunny Beverly-Collin, were also found. Removing the bodies took two days and required a disaster identification team, with victims identified via dental records, DNA or fingerprints.