Distraught families given ashes of strangers as bodies of loved ones left to rot in ‘horror scene’ funeral parlour tell court ‘no sentence could ever be enough’

Distraught families given strangers’ ashes by a rogue undertaker while their loved ones were left to rot in a funeral parlor told a court ‘no sentence could be enough to compensate for the pain he caused’.

Robert Bush, 47, piled up dozens of bodies and kept half a tonne of ashes at his funeral home in Hull; This was described as a ‘horror scene’, with ordinary staff eventually raising the alarm.

Coffins were reused and families mourned their loved ones at funerals without knowing that the body of a stranger lay in the coffin.

The funeral director is serving a prison sentence on 67 counts of preventing the lawful and proper burial of 30 bodies and defrauding grieving families at Legacy Independent Funeral Directors facilities.

Hull Crown Court heard today that Bush breached families’ trust on an ‘almost industrial scale’, spending money meant for funerals on himself and even stealing money from charity collection boxes at services.

Prosecutor Chris Paxton KC said more than £3 million was paid into Bush’s business and personal accounts between March 2017 and April 2024, but this did not reflect the turnover reported to HMRC.

There was also an element of ‘lavish personal expenditure’, with nearly £900,000 paid to his wife Vikki; Bush, on the other hand, enjoyed vacationing in the United States to watch motorcycle races.

At least 226 people fell victim to Bush’s crimes; The sentencing hearing was scheduled to last an unprecedented five days due to the scale of the crime.

Bush’s funeral parlor was finally raided by police in 2024; His own employee, Patrick Moore, told two workers from another funeral firm that there were 29 bodies on site and that some of the bodies ‘had been there for years’.

A court sketch showing Bush bowing his head and wiping his eyes as he listens to the sentencing hearing at Hull Crown Court (court drawing)

The 47-year-old man left bodies to rot at Legacy Independent Funeral Directors premises in Humberside, Hull, and gave the wrong ashes to grieving relatives

While on holiday in America, Bush reluctantly took the men into the funeral home – for fear of ‘repercussions’ – despite his boss telling him ‘not to bring anyone back to Legacy or help refrigerate a body’.

The men were so shocked by what they saw that they stopped a passing police car.

When the property was raided, officers found a brown paper bag containing a baby fetus, bodies exposed in ‘variable states of decomposition’ and a naked body lying on a stretcher on the ground.

Mr Paxton said: ‘There was evidence of human decomposition visible on the floor and a mop and bucket in the corner of the room containing further evidence of decomposition.

‘Many of the bodies had hospital identification bracelets around their wrists and ankles, some had biohazard bracelets, and others had no identification at all.’

He added: ‘The area was dirty and messy. There were numerous items on the floor that appeared to have fallen or been dragged backwards.

‘These items included flowers, rings, teddy bears and cards with messages. ‘These items are clearly personal items that loved ones may wish to remain with their deceased family member.’

Bush was arrested at Heathrow Airport as his plane landed from Arizona. He told officers: ‘I destroyed everything, everything, my whole world.’

In a later interview, Bush said he believed there were about 30 bodies at his facility, and that five or six were new and awaiting cremation.

He said the elderly bodies were not cremated ‘due to cash flow issues’ and that he planned to clear the backlog within three months.

When asked if human ashes were given to the families of people who had not yet been cremated, he replied: ‘No comment.’

Victims of Bush’s callous crimes read statements describing how they were affected by his crimes, often pausing to hold back tears.

Some described wearing lockets containing ashes that they knew no longer belonged to their loved one, or only to discover when they placed the remains on the mantel that they were someone else’s remains.

Mark Hotham died in September 2023 at the age of 89.

Some of those affected by Bush’s crimes demonstrated outside the court this morning, calling for regulation of the funeral industry

Mark Hotham, who weighed 19 stone when he died. A man managed to lift a coffin, convincing relatives he was not inside

Muriel Winning died in July 2023, aged 61, and the ashes were given to her family. His body was found in Bush’s building in March 2024.

Hull Crown Court heard that he weighed 19 stone at the time of his death, but at his funeral that month the hearse driver managed to lift the coffin onto the tram himself.

His carer, Debbie Keeting, who called him ‘grandfather’, believed he was not in the coffin and wanted to see inside, but was eventually calmed down by relatives.

Mr Hotham’s body was found at Legacy in March 2024, five months after his death.

Ms Keeting said in her statement: ‘On the day of the funeral I began to notice that things were not going well. I couldn’t explain it at the time, but I knew something was wrong.

‘Then the unthinkable truth came to light: his body had not been laid to rest as we had been told. It was not burned.

‘He wasn’t treated with the dignity he deserved. Instead, his decomposing body was later identified through DNA.

‘No words can express what it feels like to find out that someone you loved so much was treated this way after their death.

‘I feel a terrible sense of guilt, as if I had let him down; Even though I did everything I could to fulfill his wishes.

‘I still can’t shake the thought that he hasn’t been put to rest properly. I feel like I can’t grieve properly. I cry every day. ‘My life has been on hold ever since.’

He added: ‘I treasured the ashes that were given to me. I took the box with me. I would talk to them and even set them up at the Christmas dinner table with the cracker hat on.

‘I felt like he was still with me and that kept me going. My grandfather was rotting there all the time. ‘This just makes me feel sick.’

The faces of the dead whom Bush mistreated. Police identify more than 240 victims but there could be many more

Muriel Winning died on July 22, 2023, at the age of 61.

The following month, her son, Byron Lill, went to Legacy to retrieve what he thought were his mother’s ashes.

His body was recovered from Legacy in March 2024, seven months after his death.

Mr Lill said: ‘I work near the Legacy premises on Hessle Road and pass by it every day.

‘It devastates me to know my mother was locked up for almost eight months. I was very close to him physically.

‘I can’t accept it when Bush smiles and hands me a box, saying it’s his ashes, when I know he’s still lying there, just a few feet away from me.’

The body of Norman Bridger, who died at the age of 94, was removed from Legacy in a cardboard coffin 10 months after his death.

Her family had already held a funeral for her, and her daughter Karen King had lockets for her and her mother containing the ashes Bush had given her.

In a statement read in court, Ms King said she was struggling with the fact that her father was still wearing the gray T-shirt he died in.

He said: ‘This tells me that Bush doesn’t value or respect her as he promised.

‘My dear father lay in a cardboard coffin for almost 11 months. This is beyond belief.

‘I’ll never know why. It feels like it’s been forgotten.

‘When police officers knocked on my door with the news that my father might still be at the funeral home, the emotions I felt were intense.

‘My partner David and I burst into tears. How can a person be so cruel? Why would he leave it there?’

The judge, Mr Justice Hilliard, is expected to sentence Bush on Friday.