‘He’s ruined a lot of people’s lives and he hasn’t got a life sentence himself’
Bereaved families have spoken after the sentencing of Robert Bush for his crimes while running Legacy Independent Funeral Directors. The disgraced businessman, who admitted 67 offences, was jailed for 20 years after he left dead bodies to decompose, gave bereaved families the ashes of other people, sold fraudulent funeral plans and stole money donated from collections at services.
During the hearing at Hull Crown Court, High Court judge Mr Justice Hilliard said he did not think he had “ever known offences to affect so many people” and added: “No sentence I pass can put right the harm that the defendant has done.” During his sentencing remarks, the judge also acknowledged that “no sentence could ever be long enough” for those impacted by Bush’s actions.
The former funeral director was told he will serve half of his sentence before he is eligible for parole. He was also barred from being a company director for 14 years.
Before, during and after the hearing, there were dozens of people outside the court as Bush learned his fate. On behalf of a number of the affected families, Karen Dry read a statement outside, saying: “Finally Mr Bush has been sent to prison. No matter how many years, it will never be long enough for us.”
Karen said the many moving testimonies that had been heard during the week of Bush’s sentencing hearing were a “stark reminder” of the “heinous and egregious acts” committed by a funeral director who acted with “complete impunity for far too long”. She said: “Mr Bush did not make a mistake; his acts were deliberate.”
Karen said deep scars remained due to the terrible violations committed against loved ones. “We now have closure from the court proceedings but we remind our local MPs that a public enquiry should now be established.” The families were holding up signs with a QR code to a petition on regulating the funeral industry.
Karen said: “The petition urges the public to demand that the Government step in and hold funeral directors to the highest possible legal standard. Now it is time for us to grieve, reflect and repair.”
Joanne Moody spoke of her late dad, Peter, “a Hessle-Roader through and through” and “an old-school type of man”. Of Bush’s sentencing, she said she felt “disgusted and let down”.
Holding a photograph of her father, she said: “This cannot happen again. It’s wrong in so many ways.
“It’s got to be against human rights. How is it right to let an undertaker look after … when he hasn’t even got a licence? Why has nobody looked into it previously? Why has it got to come to this stage for it to get investigated? It’s just wrong.”
Liam Townend and Cody Townend were calling for more regulation and said they were supporting other families who had been through the same as them. Liam said: “We thought we could all fight for it together.”
Of the length of the sentence received by Bush, Liam said: “He’s ruined a lot of people’s lives and he hasn’t got a life sentence himself. He’s getting out in ten years; after 14 years he can set up again as a director of a funeral [business].
“Everyone needs to get on it and we need to regulate these funeral industries.” Cody said: “Now that we’re all together I think we’ve got a good chance of it coming through.”
Claire Stockdale was holding a picture of her grandma, Jessie. She said: “No amount of sentencing is going to be enough for what people have been through.”
She wanted to see people being held accountable and was supporting spot inspections. “This could have been prevented if the council had done something about it,” said Claire, “with the first body, not the 30 bodies that were in there.”
The subject of whether or not more could have been done to limit the extent of what happened was questioned in court. The judge said: “As far as I can see, there were no checks over many years of the way in which he conducted his business. There was no oversight at all, for example, of the conditions in which the deceased were kept in his premises.
“A single visit might have been enough to bring some of what he was doing to a halt. Or even the prospect of a single visit might have meant that some of what he was doing never started in the first place.”
On Friday afternoon, the Government announced it was to carry out an “urgent” crackdown on rogue funeral operators. Health and Social Care Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said Bush’s actions were “utterly abhorrent” and that bereaved families in Hull had been “badly let down”. She added: “In the wake of this horrific case, we will now bring forward comprehensive proposals to ensure respect and dignity for the deceased in every setting, including proper regulation of the funeral sector.”
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