Robert Bush sentencing LIVE: Funeral director premises ‘something from a horror scene’ | UK | News
Funeral director Robert Bush breached the trust of bereaved families “on an almost industrial scale” by spending their money on himself, the court heard. At the start of the five-day sentencing hearing at Hull Crown Court, prosecutor Chris Paxton KC said Bush had “operated at the heart of the community for nearly 14 years, tasked with treating loved ones with dignity in times of need for hundreds of bereaved families”.
He added: “And yet for almost 12 of those years, Mr Bush has violated that trust on an almost industrial scale in countless ways – by selling funeral plans when this was not permitted; by not burying or cremating loved ones; by presenting families with ashes that did not belong to their loved ones, falsely claiming to have done so. He raised expectations, made false promises and stole cash donations meant for local and national charities. All of Mr Bush’s crimes have affected teenagers and teenagers. The Hull community and beyond are alike.” The court heard the extent of his crime was discovered by chance while he was in Arizona and contacted Evergreen Funeral Directors managers Gary Pickering and Steve Emmerson, asking them to help his body recover while he was away.
Patrick Moore, a temporary employee at Legacy, helped two men retrieve the body from the nursing home, but said Bush told him “not to bring anyone back to Legacy or help put a body in the refrigerator.” The court heard Mr Moore later told the men: “You two don’t even know the half of it, the bodies have been there for years.” After Mr. Emmerson began to suspect that operations at Legacy were not as they should be, he telephoned Mr. Moore and asked how many bodies were there. Mr Moore counted up to 29 bodies and declared it a “scene of horror”. The court heard Mr Emmerson and Mr Pickering persuaded Mr Moore to allow them access to Legacy’s site in Hessle Road, despite initially fearing “repercussions”. The two men were “shocked” by what they saw at Legacy and flagged down a passing police car to report it.
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