Police investigating Robert Bush’s Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull found 35 bodies and bags of ashes among a back room of chaos
Shocking pictures show how a callous funeral director treated the deceased – and their grieving families – with utter contempt.
Some 35 bodies and the ashes of more than 100 people who Robert Bush was entrusted with sat among rubbish, scrap cars, motorbikes and wine boxes.
The public-facing areas of Hull’s Legacy Independent Funeral Directors featured a perfectly respectable waiting room and chapel. But behind the appearance of order and dignity lay a back room of horror and chaos. 17 of the bodies stored there had putrefied within a dirty cold storage area, reports the Mirror.
Bush, 48, has admitted 67 offences including fraud charges relating to giving families the ashes of strangers, and denying 30 people a decent and proper burial.
When police were called to the scene in March 2024 he boasted about his chapel, telling them: “It seats about 70 people, it’s got a lectern, the coffin sits at the front.” He also described how they had a vicar “the same as a crematorium” and a celebrant with a slide show on a screen.
But among the clutter in the back room, bodies were stored on shelves three racks high in an “undignified manner”. As Hull Crown Court heard from the prosecutor this week: “The vast majority were uncovered and in varying states of decomposition.
“There was a further naked body lying on a stretcher on the floor. In addition, there was one sealed wooden coffin and four sealed cardboard coffins. There was evidence of human putrefaction visible on the floor, and a mop and bucket in the corner of the room which contained further evidence of putrefaction.
“Many of the bodies had hospital ID bracelets on their wrists and/or ankles, some had biological hazard bracelets, while others had no identifying markers.”
The workshop, complete with slab and body gurney, also had a sink labelled “dirty area” full of waste and scissors. A Christmas tree was also among the rubbish.
A single comfy chair with a footrest sat in front of a screen in another room. Disturbingly, families have said they feared Bush was watching them as they visited their loved ones.
A book about a road trip to America was also found at the premises, along with motorbikes, four sets of motorbike leathers and helmets hanging neatly from the wall. They appeared to have been taken better care of than the bodies stored nearby or bags of ashes lined up on the floor.
Katie Woolston, 28, went to Legacy after her fourth miscarriage and now fears her child was dumped in a bin by Bush. She said: “People’s loved ones were in the building, so why on Earth was he storing motorbikes and cars in there?”
As well as conning around 200 families out of more than £550,000 through fraudulent pre-paid funeral plans, Bush – who spent £42,000 on holidays alone – also failed to pass on donations given by relatives and mourners to charity.
Bush’s sick deception – were uncovered by funeral directors who had been called in to collect a body for him while he was away in the US.
Gary Pickering and Steve Emmerson, of Evergreen Funeral Directors, took immediate action they were so disturbed. The prosecutor said: “Putting it simply, they were shocked by what they saw – but then saw a passing police car which they flagged down and they spoke to a PC.
“The officer described the witnesses as being shaken as they relayed the details to him.
“Three police officers then attended Mr Bush’s premises where they found a large number of human bodies within a cold storage area of the premises.”
The prosecutor added: “There was also evidence of personal possessions with some of the deceased and other personal effects on the floor and on shelving.”
Containers of ashes were found all over the premises, with most “stored in an undignified manner”, according to a report on the conditions in the premises.
Some were stacked chaotically on the floor where damp had caused mould to grow on the boxes. Ash was also found on desk surfaces, in empty and unidentified boxes and, in one room, strewn across the floor.
Many families had complained about a bad smell coming from the premises, with one man identifying mould on his gran’s coffin.
Photographs show one room full of wood cuttings after Bush started making his own coffins out of MDF, to save money.
He will be sentenced on Friday, after harrowing victim impact statements are read to the court.
One of Bush’s victims told the Mirror the funeral director went quickly from the “consummate professional” to “Frankenstein”.
Karen Dry said she is praying the fiend is served justice for his crimes. The mum-of-two said she may never know if she actually has her parents’ ashes.
Bush is being sentenced at Hull Crown Court for more than 65 offences spread over 12 years, with hundreds of victims and their grieving families impacted.
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Ms Dry, of Cottingham, Hull, said: “He was charming. He was pleasant and very patient, he was a consummate professional. He had a certain pleasantness about him. He had a nice personality.
“But we realised he was actually a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The truth is you can’t DNA-test ashes. This man has affected hundreds of families. A small village full. There’s probably more Frankenstein’s elsewhere – hiding in plain sight.”
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