Disgraced funeral boss 'offers apology' to families

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A disgraced funeral director who failed to bury or cremate people has offered an apology to bereaved relatives and accepts responsibility for his actions, his barrister has said.

Some 35 bodies and more than 100 sets of ashes were found by police raiding Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull in March 2024.

Hull Crown Court heard owner Robert Bush ran a "shambolic and chaotic" operation at the Hessle Road premises and his "appalling" offending had caused "extreme emotional pain, anguish and upset".

In mitigation, Bush's barrister said the defendant did "not seek in any way to minimise what he has done".

The former undertaker previously admitted 67 offences, including 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial, and theft from 12 charities.

Richard Wright KC told the third day of the sentencing hearing on Wednesday that Bush accepted his conduct "tainted the memory of every person who has passed through his hands".

"He submits an apology without qualification and he accepts that responsibility," said Wright.

The barrister added that "victim after victim" had described the devastation and psychological impact of Bush's actions.

"He has heard the human cost of what he has done," said Wright.

Wright described a "systemic failure" at Legacy and said there was "no hiding" from the fact that Bush's conduct had "deprived the dead... of basic dignity".

The barrister said "greed, incompetence and an inability to keep up with his own failings" drove the defendant's crimes.

"There is no doubt his priority was not his customers or their loved ones, and that lack of priority may be the best explanation there is," Wright told the court.

"He prioritised himself, his family, and his interests over those who entrusted the deceased to his care."

The court heard Bush had "lost his good name, his livelihood" as a result of his actions, which prompted sighs and tuts from the public gallery.

He has also been "treated as a pariah, hated and despised" and "suffered public humiliation", Wright said.

"All of that is his fault, none of it is a substitute for imprisonment, but it is part of the overall picture.

"He was a man who had his own family, his offending has devastated their lives as well as those of his victims.

"I advance those matters cautiously, they don't excuse his offending.

"There is another side to the man."

The court also heard statements from those who collected donations at funerals that were never passed on to the intended charities, and from those who were sold fake funeral plans.

In her victim impact statement, Jayne Waudby wrote that she had used Legacy following the death of her 30-year-old son Matthew Craig.

She said Bush "wouldn't let me see him to say our final goodbyes" - a fact that "haunts us every day" - and the £500 collected during his funeral was not received by the Dove House Hospice charity where her son spent his final weeks.

"Words cannot describe [Bush's] vile and deliberate actions. He has been having a good life while deceiving others... despicable and unforgivable," she wrote.

Caszandra Long's statement described how she attended Legacy's premises to arrange her father's funeral.

"We had to shuffle into the room to see my dad, where he was laid out on a decorator's pasting table," her statement said.

She said donations collected at his funeral were not passed to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Earlier in the day, Judge Mr Justice Hilliard demanded to know why current regulations with registering deaths appeared not to have been followed.

Prosecutor Steven Ball explained how forms used to monitor the process of burial or cremation were not returned by Bush and "this was not followed up by the assigned registrar".

The judge asked: "Why didn't they? What's the explanation?

"There's public interest in this. I can see people here nodding. They want to know what's happened."

Bush's crimes were discovered by chance while he was on holiday, following a tip-off from two funeral directors from a different firm.

On Monday, the prosecution outlined how police discovered a "horror scene" at the funeral home, with bodies "on the racks" of a cold storage area and one on a stretcher on the floor.

The court heard Bush, 48, of Otley in West Yorkshire, was arrested when he landed at Heathrow Airport days later, and told police he had debts of about £90,000.

The hearing continues.

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