The real reason why a funeral director kept 30 dead bodies to decompose has been revealed.
Robert Bush, 48, has pleaded guilty to 67 offences committed over 12 years, including preventing lawful burials, fraud, and theft.
The case came to light in March 2024 after someone with access to Legacy Independent Funeral Directors contacted police with concerns about the “care of the deceased” at the Hull business.
When officers searched the premises, they discovered 31 bodies that should have been cremated months earlier, including a stillborn baby that had been at the funeral home for almost two years.
Police also found more than 100 sets of ashes, some labelled with names and letters.
Robert Bush was arrested after police discovered 35 bodies and more than 100 sets of ashes at the Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull in March 2024. Credit: Humberside Police
Investigators discovered that many of the families had already been given ashes by Bush, meaning they had unknowingly received the wrong remains.
Bush also confessed to fraud involving funeral plans after taking payments but failing to pass the money to the financial institutions responsible for holding it until the funeral was needed.
He further admitted stealing donations collected for 12 charities, including the Salvation Army and Macmillan Cancer Support.
Court hears why bodies were left at the funeral home
At the sentencing hearing, prosecutor Chris Paxton KC told the court Bush had “breached trust on an almost industrial scale in a myriad of ways,” The Mirror reported.
He said Bush sold funeral plans without authorization, failed to arrange burials, handed families the wrong ashes, and stole charity donations.
The prosecutor said the director had “raised expectations, made false promises” before adding that his crimes had “impacted young and old alike across the community of Hull and beyond.”
The court heard the scandal was uncovered after two funeral directors and another man, Patrick Moore, were asked to collect a body while Bush was away on holiday in Arizona.
Moore told them Bush had previously instructed him never to bring anyone back to the Legacy premises.
“He believed it was due to the smells coming from the fridge,” the prosecutor told the court.
Moore also warned 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 the funeral home as “something from a horror scene”.
Court hears scale of alleged fraud
The court was also told Bush had £3.7 million ($4.9 million) paid into his bank account over seven years, although prosecutors said the turnover reported to HMRC did not match that figure.
According to the prosecution, customers were defrauded of more than £500,000 (over $665,000).
Officers found bodies in varying states of decomposition
The two funeral directors called the police after seeing what they described as horrific conditions.
Inside the building, cops found a “large number of human bodies within a cold storage area”.
The 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.”
“There was evidence of human putrefaction,” the prosecutor added. “Many bodies had hospital identity bracelets on their wrists or ankles. Some had biological hazard bracelets on, while others had no identifying markers.”
One police sergeant also found a paper bag containing a human foetus.
The court heard he initially thought it contained a dead bird before noticing a hospital wristband reading “Baby of Jasmine Beverley”.
Flowers and teddy bears had also been pushed aside while a naked body was found lying on the floor.
When Bush was later arrested after returning from Arizona, he reportedly told officers: “I f**ked it all up, everything, my whole world.”
Families are demanding justice
As Bush arrived at Hull Crown Court on Monday (July 27), he was asked by reporters if he had a message for the families. “Yes, I’m sorry,” he replied.
However, grieving relatives said they were “appalled” he apologized to journalists outside court but had never apologized to them directly, per BBC News.
Campaigner Karen Dry, who entrusted both of her parents’ remains to Legacy Funeral Directors, said she hopes Bush receives a lengthy prison sentence.
“I feel apprehensive but am praying for justice and a very long sentence. I’m nervous,” she said. “It actually makes me really cross that he hasn’t been held on remand. They let him walk out of court a free man after he admitted these sheer evil acts. This has devastated families and the funeral industry at large.”
Bush remains on conditional bail while his sentencing hearing continues.
The hearing is expected to last five days, during which the court is due to hear up to 200 victim impact statements from grieving families.
