Families left 'violated' after Hull funeral director pleads guilty to 31 more offences
Robert Bush appeared in Hull Crown Court for his plea hearing
Last updated 10 hours ago
Former funeral director, Robert Bush, 48, has pleaded guilty at Hull Crown Court to 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial, over bodies found at his business in 2024.
He's now pleaded guilty to a total of 67 charges.
The inquiry, which began in March 2024, uncovered 35 bodies and suspected human ashes at Legacy Funeral Directors on Hessle Road.
Families were subsequently informed that the remains could not be identified.
As the investigation progressed, Robert Bush was charged with more than 60 offences by April 2025.
Families Struggle with Trauma
Tristan Essex, who put his trust in Robert Bush for the arrangements of his grandmother's funeral, has expressed his feelings of violation and heartbreak.
Tristan's grandmother was among the bodies found at the funeral home, and he was given the wrong ashes.
He has since placed a plaque for his grandmother, Jesse, in a memorial garden on Chanterlands Avenue in Hull.
Tristan Essex said: "In the beginning, we was told the body was found in the funeral directors with an ankle bracelet that the mortuary would've put on and it said my grandma's name.
"She was found in the back when we had somebody else's ashes.”
“There were a few things that weren't right. There was a smell, and was speckles of blood on the linen of the coffin. And she was in different coffins every time I saw her, even though we'd picked a specific coffin.
"Now looking back on it, I suppose it was a big red flag, but he said he'd do everything for me. I feel violated. And especially for my grandma, he took all of her dignity away, we've been left traumatised.
"It's broken most of the family apart. My nana was someone who held the family together and this has pushed it in the opposite direction. It's a daily struggle.
Karen Dry, another affected family member, continues to feel the weight of uncertainty. Her father passed away in 2016, followed by her mother's death a few years later. Karen said: “My father died in 2016. A couple of years later, my mother died. We put their ashes together. You then find out all these years later that actually the ashes that I've got might not be my parents' ashes. It gives you a whole new level of distress.
" When you're arranging the funeral, you absolutely feel like you're doing the best. Your final act for your family, for your loved ones, is that moment of the actual service and the cremation. To then find out a few years later that actually you've got no real idea whether you've got the correct ashes or not is devastating.
"There's no identification for ashes because obviously it's ash, it's burnt, there's no DNA profiling ashes. So we'll never know. So the torment really continues. Nobody can absolutely guarantee that I've got my parents' ashes.
Karen then called on the local community of Hessle Road to join vigils, which took place on the first Thursday of every month, where flowers were laid out for families and their loved ones.
National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF) chief executive, Terry Tennens, said: “We welcome Bush’s decision to plead guilty, sparing his victims and the Hull community the further distress of a full criminal trial.
“The affected families have suffered unimaginably and deserve to see justice served as swiftly as possible. We also thoroughly condemn his actions.
“They have brought shame to a profession that is overwhelmingly defined by care, dignity and integrity.
“Our role as the largest association of independent funeral directors in the UK is to ensure this can never happen again and restore public confidence. We will do this by working collaboratively with the Government and stakeholders across the funeral sector.
“Together we will introduce a robust yet proportionate form of regulation that requires all practitioners providing care to the bereaved and the deceased to meet a rigorous set of standards.
“Bush exploited gaps in the current voluntary model of regulation with devastating impact on bereaved families.
“By requiring all UK funeral directors to follow a universal code of practice, we can ensure no one has to experience what his victims have endured ever again.”
Here are the charges Bush has admitted:
- 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial in relation to the recovery of the deceased from the premise on Hessle Road between April 2023 and March 2024
- One count of theft from charities between 1 September, 2017 and 6 March, 2023
- 30 counts of fraud by false representation in relation to the deceased recovered at the Hessle Road premise who should have been cremated, and their families advised they had been and provided with ashes between April 2023 and March 2024
- Four counts of fraud by false representation in relation to ashes provided to families following loss in pregnancy, with one of the unborn being recovered from the premises. These families were provided with ashes between August 2017 and March 2024
- One count of fraud by false representation in relation to either families provided with ashes of their loved ones, with ashes identified as their loved one later found at the premise, or families not receiving any ashes at all between August 2017 and March 2024
- One count of fraudulent trading in relation to funeral plans between 23 May, 2012 and 6 March, 2024