Legacy scandal: ‘I wonder if my baby’s remains were disposed of like a piece of litter’
CAUSED HEARTBREAK: Robert Bush. Picture credit: Humberside Police
By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor
After the horror, its impact.
The shocking truth of Robert Bush’s crimes were laid bare for the first time yesterday at the start of his sentencing hearing at Hull Crown Court.
It was an appalling catalogue of mistreatment of the dead and their families, unprecedented in its scale and nature, and with the victims numbered in their hundreds.
And then it was time for Bush, owner of Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, to hear the devastating impact of what he had done as the loved ones of the deceased began reading their victim impact statements to the court.
It was a powerful and moving display of courage and grief as they took it in turns to get to their feet to finally confront him with their own personal stories of how he had harmed them, and the dignity he stripped from their loved ones in death.
Some were so upset or daunted by the prospect of speaking in court their statements were read by a lawyer.
These harrowing accounts continued today on the second day of the sentencing hearing, which is expected to conclude on Friday.
Maxine Penrose said she had already had to give up work to cope with losing her brother, Paul Hemingway, at the age of 58, and to find out she had then been given the wrong ashes “made the grieving process worse”.
“I feel lost, I am a different person than I used to be,” she said. “Organising my brother’s funeral was the last thing I was able to do for him and because of what Robert Bush did I feel robbed of that.
“My children also had a ring made for me with my dad and Paul’s ashes. We now know that my dad is with an unknown person’s ashes. This is heartbreaking.”
Tracey Hudson said she felt her mum, Annie Kendall, had been “eliminated” by Bush when she found out he gave her the wrong ashes after her mum’s death.
“I’m angrier and more frustrated than I have ever felt in my life,” she said.
“I hate Bush for what he has done to me and my family. I am hurt and want to feel joy in my life again. I am depressed.”
CRIME SCENE: The Legacy premises in Hessle Road
Grieving mum Jasmine Beverley was trying to live with the tragedy of losing her still-born baby, Sunny, when she then had to be informed his tiny body had been found “in a brown paper bag on the floor” of the Legacy premises in Hessle Road.
This discovery by police was on March 8, 2024 – 21 months after she and partner Ben held a funeral service in the Legacy chapel, and nearly a year after they had supposedly been given Sunny’s ashes.
She said: “Losing Sunny was the most devastating experience of my life. After he was born sleeping, I struggled deeply with my mental health. The grief was overwhelming and there were times when the pain felt so unbearable that I experienced suicidal thoughts.
“… I learned the truth while I was pregnant with my rainbow baby (baby after loss). What should have been a time of healing and hope instead became filled with anxiety, fear and sleepless nights. Instead of focusing on bringing new life into the world, I was forced to question whether my son had ever been treated with the dignity he deserved.”
She told Bush: “Your actions have taken away something that can never be replaced – the peace of believing our loved ones were treated with care and respect after death.
“The reality that I now live with is that my baby boy Sunny has spent more time in your possession than he ever did with his own family.
“I have to live with the fact that my son was kept for so long without my knowledge, and that when he was eventually found he was in a brown paper bag on the floor. As a mother, that is something that will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
Katie Woolston entrusted Bush with cremating two of the four babies she lost through miscarriage. In 2024, she was pregnant with her now one-year-old daughter, Betsy, when she learned Bush had given her the wrong ashes for one of her babies.
She said there was “significant evidence” Bush had collected her baby’s remains from hospital “but never actually cremated them”.
Katie told the court: “The news of what Bush has done, not just to me but to other parents too, after already going through the traumatic time that the loss of a baby is, really does hurt.
“I often wonder where my baby’s remains are, if they ever made it back to the Legacy funeral home, or if they were simply disposed of like a piece of litter, and those thoughts break my heart.
“I hope no other families ever have to go through anything like this again.”
Bush, 48, 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.
The hearing continues.