UK funeral director jailed for 20 years for 'dreadful' practices

Robert Bush admitted to 67 offences after police uncovered 31 decomposing bodies and more than 100 sets of ashes, with at least 46 families found to have received the wrong remains.

Robert Bush ran his funeral parlour in Hull in northeastern England for over 12 years, offending on an "industrial scale" and causing "anguish and pain on a scale beyond comprehension", judge Nicholas Hilliard said.

The 48-year-old undertaker pleaded guilty to 67 offences. He will serve at least half of his sentence before being eligible for parole.

As Bush began his sentence, the government pledged to "crack down on rogue operators".

Police who searched the funeral director's premises after a tip-off in 2024 found 31 bodies in a cold storage area that should have been cremated months earlier. They included a stillborn baby that had been there for almost two years.

Most of the bodies were "uncovered and on racks ... of a cold storage area" Hilliard told Hull Crown Court, describing conditions on the premises as "dreadful".

An ex-employee described the funeral parlour as a "horror scene", the court heard at an earlier hearing.

Police found more than 100 sets of ashes on the premises, and determined there were at least 46 cases where relatives had been given the wrong ashes.

Many families discovered they had been left with nothing of their loved ones' remains, the judge said. In some cases they were only left with "an empty plastic bag or a teaspoonful of ashes the police managed to recover".

"FINANCIAL GREED"

Bush initially told police that he did not cremate the bodies due to cash flow problems, which the judge rejected.

"Bush took any and every opportunity that presented itself in the course of his work dishonestly to enrich himself at the expense of those who used his services," said Hilliard.

"I have no doubt that the defendant behaved in such a deceitful way because of financial greed."

Over a five-day-long sentencing hearing, distraught families recounted the ways in which the bodies of their loved ones had been mistreated at the Legacy Independent Funeral Directors.

The details of the case have prompted calls for stricter regulation of the funeral industry.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he backed calls for greater regulation.

"This needs a proper response in terms of the regulation needed, to make sure no family goes through that again," Burnham said.

Undertakers in England and Wales can operate without a licence, with anybody free to set themselves up as a funeral director.

Health Minister Yvette Cooper said the government would bring forward "comprehensive proposals" to ensure "proper regulation of the funeral sector".

"GOT AWAY WITH IT"

He also stole thousands of pounds in donations to 12 charities that were collected at his funeral services.

Jackie Groizard, who believes she was given the wrong ashes of her mother-in-law Carol, said the sentence was "not long enough".

"He's got away with it - it should have been life," said Groizard. "What he's done has left people in heartbreak."

Joanne Moody, whose father Peter was one of the bodies found at the parlour by police, told the Press Association news agency the sentence was "atrocious".

"There's no justice for any of us, we're all still going to be kicking around when he gets out. We're not going to get closure."