HULL CROWN COURT- Former funeral director Robert Bush has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after admitting 67 offences connected to Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, bringing to a close one of the most distressing criminal cases ever to affect East Yorkshire.
Bush, 48, formerly of Kirk Ella, was sentenced at Hull Crown Court on Friday following a five-day hearing. He was also disqualified from acting as a company director for 14 years.
Legacy Independent Funeral Directors operated branches in both Hull and Beverley. The police investigation began in March 2024 after concerns were raised about the care of the deceased at the company’s Hessle Road funeral home. Within days, Bush was arrested at Heathrow Airport after returning from the United States.
The investigation uncovered shocking failures spanning more than a decade.
Bush admitted 30 offences of preventing lawful and decent burials relating to people whose bodies were recovered from the Hessle Road premises between April 2023 and March 2024.
He also admitted 30 counts of fraud by false representation after families were falsely told their loved ones had been cremated and were provided with ashes that were not those of the deceased.
Four further fraud offences related to families who had suffered the loss of babies during pregnancy and were provided with ashes. One unborn child was later recovered from the funeral premises.
Bush also admitted fraud involving families who either received incorrect ashes or no ashes at all, theft from charities between 2017 and 2023, and fraudulent trading linked to funeral plans sold over a twelve-year period.
“Anguish and pain on a scale beyond comprehension”
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Hilliard described the case as unlike any other he had encountered.
He said Bush’s offending had caused “anguish and pain on a scale beyond comprehension”.
The judge highlighted the exceptional nature of the case, pointing to the duration of the offending, the gross breach of trust placed in a funeral director, the large number of victims and the profound impact on families.
“There are factors present in this case that will not be present in other cases,” he told the court.
He added: “I am conscious that for those that have suffered, no sentence could ever be enough.”
Bush received a custodial sentence of 20 years. Under current sentencing legislation he will become eligible to be considered for release on licence after serving half of that sentence, although any release is subject to the Parole Board. If released, he would remain on licence and could be returned to prison if he breached its conditions or committed further offences.
Families relived their grief
The sentencing hearing heard days of emotional victim impact statements from families whose trust had been shattered.
Many described discovering that the funeral they believed they had arranged had never taken place as they had been led to believe. Others spoke of the devastating uncertainty over whether the ashes they had treasured belonged to their loved one.
Speaking outside court, Joanne Moody, whose father Peter Moody was among those recovered from the Hessle Road premises, questioned whether the sentence reflected the scale of the harm caused.
“We feel really, really let down,” she said after learning Bush could be eligible for release after serving half of his sentence.
She said Bush had taken “the last bit of dignity we had of our parents and loved ones” and “destroyed it”.
During the hearing, victims fought back tears as details of the offending were read aloud in court.
Police: “The damage is quite possibly irreparable”
Senior Investigating Officer Detective Superintendent Alan Curtis said every stage of the investigation had been driven by the needs of grieving families.
“Behind every enquiry and every item of evidence was a person who had died, a family who had lost a loved one, all of whom were seeking answers,” he said.
He described the impact on families as “simply unimaginable” and said the investigation had affected the whole community in a way that was unprecedented.
“The damage Bush has caused is quite possibly irreparable,” he said.
“Losing a family member or friend you love can be one of the most traumatic experiences anyone can go through, and Robert Bush took advantage of this.”
Detective Superintendent Curtis acknowledged that no sentence could undo the harm caused but said he hoped Friday’s outcome would provide families with some measure of resolution.
He also paid tribute to the hundreds of officers, specialists and support staff who worked on the investigation, together with the victims and families whose courage and cooperation helped secure convictions on all 67 charges.
A case that shook Beverley and East Yorkshire
The discovery made by police in March 2024 sent shockwaves across East Yorkshire. As details emerged, families from Hull, Beverley and beyond were left questioning whether the funerals of their loved ones had been carried out with the dignity and care they believed they had paid for.
The case prompted national attention and raised wider questions about oversight within the funeral sector and the level of trust families place in funeral directors at one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.
For many families, however, Friday’s sentence marks the end of the criminal proceedings rather than the end of their grief. As Mr Justice Hilliard acknowledged in court, no sentence can undo the anguish caused by the betrayal of that trust.