'I met families broken by Robert Bush funeral horror - they fear other evils will come'

From the moment Robert Bush handed staff the keys to his Hull funeral home, a terrible secret began to unravel. Bush had flown to America for a holiday, leaving Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in the care of temporary staff. He left them with a strange instruction - do not, under any circumstances, enter the back of the premises, which were locked shut. Workers then became even more concerned when a body was brought in and placed in the chapel, not the mortuary facility. The smell, too, was cause for alarm. On 6 March 2024, a member of staff hailed a passing police car to raise concerns. No-one could have prepared them for the horrors that awaited inside. Officers discovered 35 bodies in the back of the funeral home, with many stacked on shelves. Of these deceased, 31 had already been given funerals, with families believing they'd already been laid to rest. Some of the bodies should have been cremated long ago, including a stillborn baby that had been left there for nearly two years. A diving unit experienced in dealing with decomposing remains was called, and even seasoned officers were left greatly distressed by the "horror scene". Kevin Moxon, another local funeral director, tells us: "To store the deceased for so long in such appalling conditions would have been a horrendous sight for them to meet." Investigators soon found that debt-ridden Bush had been handing out the wrong ashes to bereaved families, defrauding them in a sick scheme. Now, two and a half years on from the heinous discovery, nothing remains but the vacant shell of the former business with its splintered window and hopeful To Let signs. But deep scars remain for the families affected by Bush's sickening crimes, with many left with the unimaginable torment of not knowing whether they've laid their loved ones to rest. Inside funeral home of horrors Bush's lack of consideration for the dead was writ throughout the damp and mouldering rooms inside the funeral home. Personal tokens of affection, clearly intended to be left inside coffins, were scattered carelessly on the floor. A "large quantity" of family photographs, jewellery and a teddy bear were also found. As well as the bodies and family keepsakes, piles of ashes were discovered. While some were labelled, others will sadly never be identified. Karen Dry, 57, who trusted Bush with the cremations of both her parents, tells us: "It wasn't just a small amount. They found 163 lots of ashes. Half a tonne. It's a small village's worth of deceased." In some instances, urns were instead filled with animal ashes. Heartbreakingly, even those who knew Bush weren't spared his villainy. A widower who'd worked for him as a bearer had been handed ashes that didn't belong to his late wife. Kevin says: "How can you do that to somebody who worked with you, to anybody, but when you've worked with this person? It's like a Jekyll and Hyde scenario." The 'industrial scale' of Bush's deception is hard to contemplate. Some of the bereaved had been walking around with jewellery or even tattoos made from the remains, not knowing these belonged to strangers. Linda Gillard, a local vicar who has been a great source of comfort and support to families affected, tells us: "The haunting ones that have stayed with me are one of the gentleman's grandmas who was definitely not the person that he went to the funeral of, and she was found there so many months after in a terrible condition. Also, babies were involved. It's just the thought, really, of loved ones being abandoned and not being given the dignity and the care that they should have had." That same month the remains were found, Bush was arrested on a plane while returning from his £3,000 Arizona holiday. Knowing the game was up, he told officers: "I f**ked it all up, everything, my whole world." He went on to plead guilty to 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial, and theft from 12 charities, including the Salvation Army and Macmillan Cancer Support. 'It's like losing them all over again' One woman haunted by Bush's deception is local mum Michaela Baldwin. In March 2024, she was just starting "to heal" after the death of her beloved stepfather, Danny Middleton, who'd died around five months earlier. It was then that she got a phone call from a friend, who told her to read an article shared on Facebook about the horrors unfolding at Legacy. It was, she says, like "a slap in the face". "Within a few days, we'd had a phone call from the police who said that Danny's body was still at Legacy," Michaela explains. "And we'd already had ashes as well." Grieving victims like Michaela, who got the same agonising phone call, then faced holding second funerals. As Michaela put it, it's like "losing your loved one all over again". "It's hard to put into words. On one hand, you feel you've let your loved one down because you're meant to give them a respectful goodbye, which has never happened. Then you've also got the 20 questions of why? What was he doing? Why did he do it? And the questions just get bigger and bigger and bigger as it goes along." Another local woman, Karen, now one of the most vocal campaigners for change, had turned to Bush for her father Allan Griffin's funeral in 2016. She was so taken by his "charming, professional, courteous" demeanour that she requested his services again, after her mother Betty passed away three years later. Karen even wrote into her will that she wanted Bush to arrange her funeral when the time came. Now, she's repulsed by what he's done. When stories began to emerge about Legacy, former business studies and IT teacher Karen set about arranging a vigil for the families of the deceased, having been greatly moved by the floral displays and teddies outside the funeral home. The morning after that first vigil, Karen received a phone call from a friend, who told her that their own deceased loved one was potentially still inside Legacy. They'd died the same year as Karen's dad. "I got onto the police," Karen says. "The first thing you're asked when you ring the number is, 'Are there any distinguishing features?' That very question alone leaves you in no doubt what they're dealing with in that building. These deceased were our loved ones. These were bodies that had been left to decompose. You can't fathom it. Just horrendous." For three harrowing weeks, she was left to wonder whether her parents, whose ashes she'd so lovingly cared for, had been left to rot at Legacy. "You end up in a state of torment that you've got ashes, and you've got absolutely no idea really whose they are." Officers have told Karen that they are "99 per cent" certain that the ashes she brought home belong to her parents, but she now has to live with the fact that there will always be some uncertainty. There is no way to get a DNA profile on human ashes, leaving many families in Hull with the same unanswered questions. 'Monster' with no remorse Following Bush's guilty plea, Karen was among those who waited to call out as the "monster" emerged from court - to their astonishment - on bail. She couldn't believe that there wasn't a cell anywhere in the country to hold him. "We didn't need to let him walk the streets, walking his dog, emptying his bins and being normal. Being a normal member of society. Having an Easter, having a Christmas, having a birthday as a free man." Michaela, just as furious, adds: "He's a monster. He's devastated so many lives just for pure greed. I just don't know how he can sleep at night. It's absolutely devastating." Throughout the trial, she saw how Bush was "covering his face, head down", refusing to look at anybody and declining to give an apology. She wasn't surprised. "He's got no morals whatsoever. I wasn't even expecting anything." As well as defrauding families, evil Bush had also been stealing cash from charity collection boxes, which had been intended to raise money in memory of the deceased. Legacy had council debts exceeding £50,000 concerning unpaid fees and charges. This included cremation fees. The funeral boss's lavish spending habits were laid bare in court. Financial records show that, between the years 2017 and 2024, Bush spent more than £42,000 on holidays, £21,000 on motorcycle racing and £17,400 on home improvements. These records show a liking for fine living, including Boodles jewellery, and swish London restaurants. "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," prosecutor Chris Paxton KC told Hull Crown Court. "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." Harrowing aftermath For those haunted by visions of their loved ones left at Legacy, the trauma has been profound, and some of Michaela's family members have had to take time off work due to stress. Through it all, Michaela refuses to let the ordeal taint her memories of Danny, remembered as "a great guy" who "loved his family". She said: "It's just been one battle after another, but we're getting through it." People from all different walks of life have been brought together in their grief. Karen and local vicar Linda met while laying flowers outside Legacy and have become good friends. When Karen and others started holding vigils once a month, Linda was there to offer prayer and spiritual support. She shares: "There was an awful lot of anger, obviously. I wasn't there to suppress the anger; I was there to listen to it. Try to put it into some context, but again, with the horror of what happened, what context could it be put into?" For those in the church, the possibility of having carried out the wrong funeral for someone has been deeply upsetting. Linda says: "All I think is, well, we committed them to God, and that's all, we've done our very best on that day." 'There will be more' Before the atrocities came to light, local funeral director Kevin had a hunch that something was wrong when Bush's unknowing victims came to him to ask questions about the sham plans they'd made through Legacy. Kevin was left "aghast" at the revelations, unable to believe that such a thing could happen in Hull. "Bush's moral compass has just been totally set to zero," he says. "And it's just horrendous." He fears that affected families will have lost their trust in funeral professionals, the vast majority of whom are dedicated to caring for people at their lowest points. He adds: "Sadly, they will face at some point in the future a bereavement, and that's when the trauma is going to really raise its head again". Kevin, who has been in the industry for 30 years, strongly believes that funeral directors should be regulated, as they are in other parts of Europe. He notes that while a Greek takeaway next door has to undergo health and safety inspections and hold a food hygiene certificate before selling food to customers, he, as a funeral director, requires nothing of the sort. He is a member of the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) and the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF), but this isn't a legal requirement. While confident that the vast majority of funeral professionals are trustworthy and respectful, Kevin is concerned about a rise in services offering direct cremations, with some companies hoping to turn industrial estate units into mortuaries capable of holding hundreds and hundreds of bodies. While Kevin and others do offer direct cremations - the simplest sort of service held without ceremony or mourners - these are still conducted with absolute dignity and respect, a far cry from what he regards as a "glorified disposal service", by those he does not view as true funeral directors. He says: "The families will never know when that person's being cremated, what date it is, what time it is." There is a dark feeling in Hull that there could well be other Robert Bushes operating elsewhere, with Michaela warning that it's "easy to open a funeral director's as it is a sandwich shop". And devastatingly, there have already been other similar cases across the UK. In February, two Gosport funeral directors were jailed for four years for keeping 46 bodies in unrefrigerated conditions. In August 2025, Leeds funeral director Amie Upton was banned from the city's maternity units and mortuaries after it emerged she'd been keeping babies' bodies at her home, seated in front of cartoons. Karen, who leads The Hull 35 Support Group for affected families, has launched a petition to Introduce Full Statutory Regulation of the Funeral Industry by Spring 2027. The petition, which has clocked up more than 2,000 signatures so far, is calling for mandatory standards and licensing, regular and unscheduled inspections of premises, and a minister for funerals. Whether Bush's sentencing will bring about any peace remains to be seen, but, as Karen and Michaela explain, they're not necessarily seeking closure; they're seeking change. "There is going to be more," Michaela warns. "The only way that's going to stop it is by getting this legislation through Parliament and into gear." For Karen, there is "no doubt" in her mind that this is the case, and she believes inspections every three years, as is currently the case, is not enough. "How much damage can you do in those three years?" she asks. "How many families can you cause damage to in three years if you're doing three or four funerals a week? I mean, it makes my blood run cold." "I'd like to look Bush in the eye and ask him why he did it. And when did it start. How long did he think he was going to get away with it for? "One of the burning questions I've always thought about is the 35 that were found on that day, could that have been 35 of 135, and he got away with others? How do we know? We don't know. And I'd like to ask him." * You can find out more about the petition to Introduce Full Statutory Regulation of the Funeral Industry by Spring 2027 here Do you have a story to share? Email me at [email protected] [Image text:] LEGACY 98a Hesse Rd. l.HU3 3EA 132Hul HeseH Available 24 boun 7 Days a weck GACY