Legacy scandal: ‘Heartless’ Robert Bush jailed for 20 years

‘BEHAVED IN A DISGRACEFUL WAY’: Robert Bush

WARNING: Contains distressing details

By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor

A funeral director who let dead bodies putrefy, gave dozens of bereaved families the wrong ashes, and left a still-born baby in a bag on the floor, has been jailed for 20 years.

Robert Bush, 48, owner and director of Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, “caused anguish and pain on a scale beyond comprehension”.

Jailing Bush at Hull Crown Court today at the conclusion of a five-day sentencing hearing, Mr Justice Hilliard said: “I do not think that I have ever known offences affect so many people, and so many people so deeply.”

Bush, formerly of Kirk Ella and now of Otley, West Yorkshire, previously pleaded guilty to 67 offences, including preventing the lawful and decent burial of 30 bodies, following one of the biggest and most complex investigations in Humberside Police history.

At the start of his sentencing remarks, which took over an hour, the judge said: “No sentence I can pass can put right the harm that the defendant has done, particularly where so many deceased persons and bereaved relatives are concerned. The pain that is still being suffered cannot, I am afraid, be remedied by a sentence of imprisonment.”

It is likely Bush will serve only half his sentence before being released on licence.

Bush, who wore a dark suit, white shirt and mauve tie, sat with his head bowed throughout most of the hearing, while quiet sobs could sometimes be heard from the packed public gallery.

He showed no emotion when standing to receive his sentence before being taken to the cells.

But some victims’ families expressed their disappointment at the sentence outside court.

Phil and Jackie Groizard, both 65, had been given the wrong ashes after Phil’s mother Carol died in June 2022, aged 83. “We got the ashes but don’t know who’s they are,” said Phil. “I think he just swept up any ashes.”

‘HE SHOULD HAVE GOT LIFE’: Jackie and Phil Groizard outside court after sentencing

Jackie told The Hull Story of the sentence: “That wasn’t the outcome I expected. He should never have come out again. He should have done life.”

Bush, who ran the business for 14 years, left hundreds of victims in his wake.

Many had the courage to tell the court in harrowing detail of the devastating impact his crimes had on them and their families.

One grieving mother – given the wrong ashes after entrusting Bush with the cremation of her still-born son – said she had felt suicidal. Another said she still does not know where her baby’s remains are, and wondered if they had been “disposed of like a piece of litter”.

Yet when Bush was arrested for a second time, at his home on July 3, 2024, his only thoughts were for himself. He complained about the way he was being investigated and said the arrest felt “vindictive”.

The judge said: “In their personal statements, many family members have asked why the defendant behaved in the way that he did? In some ways, it might be more comforting if the answer was a complex one.

“In fact, I have no doubt that the defendant behaved in such a deceitful way because of financial greed. He must unfortunately have a heartless side to him too which enabled him to treat the living and the dead in the way that he did.”

The judge also said that no family who had used Bush’s services at Legacy could be confident of what had happened, even if they were not part of the criminal case.

“As I have said, the awful truth is that anyone whose loved one went through Legacy at any time when it was operating can now have no confidence as to how they were treated or as to whose ashes they have, unless of course they were one of the 30 bodies recovered in March 2024,” he said.

ARREST: Police arrive at Bush’s home

Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC had told the court Bush had breached trust “on an almost industrial scale”.

He said: “Robert Bush operated within the heart of the community for around fourteen years, entrusted by hundreds of bereaved families, in their time of need, to treat their loved ones with dignity and yet over almost twelve of those years Mr Bush breached that trust on an almost industrial scale.”

He did this by selling funeral plans when not authorised to do so; by failing to bury or cremate loved ones; by falsely claiming he had done so when presenting families with ashes which were not those of their loved ones, Mr Paxton said.

Bush also stole cash donations made at funerals that were intended for local and national charities. The 12 organisations affected are: Salvation Army, Macmillan Cancer Support, CHIEF, Dogs Trust, Dove House, Help for Heroes, Health Stars, Oakwood Dog Rescue, RNLI, Sailors’ Children’s Society, WISHH (Hull hospitals charity), and Hull Fishing Heritage Charity.

In police interview, Bush said he had cash flow problems and debts of around £90,000. The judge said: “There was no problem with the flow of cash. The only problem was with the direction the cash was flowing.”

The judge told the court: “The defendant was so preoccupied with his own enrichment that he behaved in a shocking and disgraceful way towards the deceased entrusted to his care, and his behaviour towards their living relatives was characterised by dishonesty, deception and heartlessness.

“If he could re-use a coffin that someone had already paid for, he would do so. If it was cheaper not to keep the deceased in refrigerated conditions, he would do that too. The premises at Hessle Road were in an appalling state.”

The court heard that in the seven years between March 2017 and April 2024, a total of £3,076,522 was paid into Bush’s business and personal accounts. The turnover reported to HMRC in these years “does not reflect this”, Mr Paxton said.

During this time, Bush’s “profligate personal spending” and transfers to his wife, Vikki Bush, accounted for £879,655.94. “Therefore, this amount, if not more, would have been available to his business operations,” the prosecutor said.

“The financial situation within the business was not dire, but likely mismanaged, and the expenditure reflected Mr Bush’s priorities and not those whom he was meant to be serving.

CRIME SCENE: The investigation was one of the longest and most complex in Humberside Police history

“For all of Mr Bush’s claims about his finances, it should be borne in mind that the cost of a single cremation was around £500, and yet Mr Bush chose not to deal with those bodies entrusted to him but to operate as he chose and spend the money on himself and others.”

Bush said he paid himself about £3,000 a month.

His offending was discovered “by chance” on March 6, 2024, while Bush was on holiday in the US with his daughter, Saskia.

Patrick Moore, who worked for Bush on a casual basis, had told funeral directors of another company, Evergreen – who had been asked to assist with the recovery of a body while Bush was away – that he had been warned not to take anyone back to the Legacy premises in Hessle Road. He then told them: “You don’t know the half of it. Bodies have been there for years.”

One of the directors later called Mr Moore to ask him how many bodies there were. He counted up to 29 and described it as a “horror scene”. The directors then insisted on being let in and were so alarmed by what they saw they flagged down a passing police car.

Officers who searched the premises found “a large number of human bodies” in a cold storage area. They were stored on racks on both sides of the room. “The vast majority were uncovered and in varying states of decomposition; there was a further naked body lying on a stretcher on the floor,” Mr Paxton said.

He continued: “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 identity bracelets on their wrists and/or ankles, some had biological hazard bracelets, while others had no identifying markers.”

Mr Justice Hilliard described the conditions at Legacy as “dreadful”. The bodies had not been dressed or washed and “a number were lying in pools of bodily fluids”, the judge said.

He added: “There was no evidence of any form of mortuary register to show who was even there.”

Bush was first arrested by armed police on a plane at Heathrow Airport when he arrived back in the UK from the holiday in Arizona on March 10, 2024. He was arrested on suspicion of preventing a lawful burial, fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position.

After being cautioned, Bush said: “Saskia is unaware of that, that I have deceived everyone from that.”

Minutes later he said: “I’ve f****d it all up, everything, my whole world.” He signed this statement in the officer’s notebook.

Bush was also barred from being a company director for 14 years.

The offences are:

• Counts 1 to 30 relate to preventing the lawful and decent burial of 30 bodies between April 20, 2023, and March 6, 2024.

• Counts 31 to 60 relate to fraud by false representation and mirror counts 1 to 30 as they relate to the associated ashes fraud.

• Count 61 relates to fraudulent trading over a period of 11 years, 10 months in respect of 226 victims totalling £562,117.00.

• Count 62 is a ‘rolled-up’ count relating to fraud by false representation in relation to 57 sets of ashes between August 1, 2017, and March 6, 2024.

• Counts 63 to 66 relate to fraud by false representation in relation to the foetal remains of four unborn babies.

• Count 67 relates to theft from 12 charities between September 1, 2017, and March 6, 2024, totalling between £5,040 and £13,500 (the mean figure is £9,270).