Kerry Webb is heartbroken by the way her beloved mum was treated by Robert Bush
Julie Webb(Image: Humberside Police)
On Friday, July 31 2026, Hull funeral director Robert Bush was jailed for 20 years.
The 48-year-old left bodies to decompose at Legacy Independent Funeral Directors’ premises in the city, gave bereaved families the ashes of other people and stole money donated from collections at funerals.The “horror” and revulsion felt by the families who had lost loved ones was revealed at Hull Crown Court during a series of powerful and harrowing victim statements during the first four days of the five-day sentencing hearing.
Over the coming weeks, we will be publishing those statements – from families who had cruelly been taken advantage of when they were at their most vulnerable. Their stories need to be told, and we will ensure that they are, for as long as it takes.
My mum was one of the 35 people found when Legacy Funeral Directors were investigated for crimes relating to the deceased in their care. To lose a parent is horrific. To lose one suddenly, with no real warning was heartbreaking, and having to make the decision to switch off all life support almost destroyed me.
As my mum was within the first two years of her life insurance policy, they wouldn’t pay out any funds. We had no money to cover the funeral costs. It almost killed me to set up a Go Fund Me and ask for help. I wanted to be able to do it all myself, but I had to swallow my pride and do it for my mum.
The amount of support we received was unbelievable, and it showed how loved my mum was. We raised the money in four days, and I could breathe again – we could give her a fantastic send off. My beautiful, brave Mama deserved the best, and we were assured that she would receive the best. Robert Bush seemed like a good man. Slightly awkward, and a little bit ditsy, he still came across as someone who cared.
When I mentioned my mum’s love of elephants, he offered to have an elephant engraved on her name plate at no extra charge. We thought this was a lovely touch, and the amount of ‘thank you’ cards dotted around the small office only solidified our initial judgements of him and his business.
I still can’t believe that I handed over not only my money, but money kindly donated by friends and family. Friends and family who only wanted the best for my mum, who gave willingly to help make a horrendous situation a little easier.
Robert Bush took that money and tarnished the name of every funeral director in the area. Even now, when I hear that someone is planning a funeral, I hope and pray that they don’t have to go through what I did.
At no point when dealing with Robert Bush did I have misgivings, except for a pungent smell the day before my mum’s service, but this was quickly forgotten about. I know nothing about dead bodies, and embalming. Maybe it was normal.
The funeral service was lovely. My mum would have loved all those people in the room, there because they loved her. There because they wanted to pay their respects.
It’s a shame Robert Bush didn’t respect my mum in the same way. As I left Legacy Funeral Directors I asked if my mum’s flowers could go to the crematorium with her, and I was assured that yes, of course they would. I walked away feeling like I’d done my mum proud, and I felt like I could get on with grieving now the hard part was over.
Robert Bush lied. Not only did he lie about sending my mum and her flowers to the crematorium, he also lied about having her ashes back ‘in a few days’. I couldn’t wait to bring her home, and hearing news of a police investigation terrified me. What if her ashes got caught up in all of this, and it delayed her coming back to me?
Robert Bush never took my mum to the crematorium. Instead, he left her in his funeral parlour for a week. She should have been home with me, but she was abandoned with 34 other loved ones inside his premises with no regard for the families that deserved the truth. With no regard for the deceased who deserved a decent and proper send off, and with seemingly no intention to provide me with her ashes.
How could someone be so cruel? How could you go to work every day, dealing with grieving families, and knowingly deceive them? Taking their money and promising to care for their loved one in their final journey, with no intention to care at all. It took the police seven weeks to formally identify my mum. Seven weeks of heartbreak, of not knowing if it was truly my mum inside that coffin, of not knowing what had happened to her body, of being terrified that somebody had hurt her. Those seven weeks are a blur.
When we finally cremated her eight weeks after the service at Legacy, I felt like I could breathe again. She was safe, and she was coming home. lt sickens me that not only has Robert Bush deceived 35 families, he’s also lied to countless others about ashes and taken money for funeral plans that never existed. The emotional and mental impact of this situation is still as prevalent today, as it was last year. I know I won’t be able to rest until Robert Bush is punished for his crimes.
The world has never been told the names of the 35. They were just a number. A deceased person caught up in a police investigation. My mum wasn’t just a number. She was a sister, an auntie, a friend. She loved elephants, and Coronation Street. She was terrified of birds and loved hanging out washing on a summer’s day. Her name is Julie Webb, and she is my mum.
Kerry Webb