Legacy scandal: Witness spoke of ‘horror scene’ at funeral parlour

‘BREACHED TRUST ON AN INDUSTRIAL SCALE’: Robert Bush arriving at court at an earlier hearing

WARNING: Contains distressing details

By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor

Police officers and witnesses spoke of their shock at finding decomposing bodies at Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, a court heard.

The scandal was uncovered “by chance” on March 6, 2024, while Legacy owner Robert Bush, 48, was on holiday in the US with his daughter, Hull Crown Court heard.

Bush, formerly of Kirkella and now of Otley, West Yorkshire, has 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.

Opening the case as Bush’s sentencing hearing began this morning, prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC said Bush had breached trust “on an almost industrial scale”.

Mr Paxton told the court: “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 intended for local and national charities. “All of Mr Bush’s offences impacted young and old alike across the community of Hull and beyond,” the prosecutor said.

The court heard Bush’s offending was discovered while he was on holiday in Arizona with his daughter.

On March 6, 2024, Bush contacted Gary Pickering and Steve Emmerson – directors of Evergreen Funeral Directors – asking them to assist him with a body recovery while he was away.

They called Patrick Moore, a casual worker for Legacy, asking him, on behalf of Legacy, to collect a body from a care home in Bourne Street, Hull.

The three men collected the body but Mr Moore said Bush had told him in the past not to bring anyone back to Legacy, nor to help put a body in the fridge area. Mr Moore thought this was “due to the smells that were coming from the fridge”, the court heard.

As they were taking the body to Evergreen, despite passing close to Legacy, Mr Moore made a comment “out of the blue”, saying: “You don’t know the half of it. Bodies have been there for years.”

Mr Emmerson and Mr Pickering felt “uncomfortable” and Mr Emmerson later called Mr Moore to ask how many bodies were there.

“He counted up to 29 bodies, describing it as being something from a ‘horror scene’,” Mr Paxton said.

Mr Moore said he thought it was illegal, that “bodies shouldn’t be kept there that long”, and that many had been there since before he started working for Bush six to seven months earlier.

SCENE: Police attend Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hessle Road, Hull

The Evergreen directors “insisted” Mr Moore report the matter to police but he was reluctant do so “for fear of repercussions”.

After persuading Mr Moore to let them into the Hessle Road premises, the two men arrived at 7pm on March 6 and were “shocked by what they saw”.

They flagged down a passing police car and the officer described them as being “shaken” as they told him what they had seen.

Three police officers attended the site and found “a large number of human bodies” in a cold storage area.

Bodies 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.”

The city coroner was alerted and authorised the removal of the bodies to the mortuary at Hull Royal Infirmary.

This was, the court heard, a “huge task” lasting two days and involved numerous officers and specialist police Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) teams.

Once this was completed it was decided because of the conditions to recover all other items from the fridge area.

Mr Paxton said: “The area was dirty and unkept. There were a number of items on the floor which appeared to have been dropped or swept to the back. These items included flowers, rings, teddies, and cards with messages. These items were clearly personal possessions that loved ones would have wanted to stay with their deceased family members.

“PS Sutcliffe saw a brown paper bag on the right-hand side next to the door during the search which appeared to be a police evidence bag. In this bag was a white cotton pad. It looked like a dressing-type pad used by hospitals. PS Sutcliffe opened the pad and inside was a tiny item which he initially thought was a baby bird.

“Although initially unsure, he suspected it was a human foetus. There were two hospital wristbands wrapped around the waist … He was shocked. The investigation established that these were the identification wristbands placed around the waist of babies by the hospital when they were too small for them to be placed around the wrist.”

Bush was arrested at Heathrow Airport when he arrived back in the UK on March 10.

• 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).

The hearing continues and is expected to conclude on Friday.