Shane Atkinson’s family said they were open and honest with Robert Bush – and he took advantage of them
Shane Atkinson
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 father, Shane Atkinson, died on 28/10/2023. We wanted closure for him by having a nice send off and we thought at least now he is at peace. A friend recommended Legacy Funeral Directors and when we went to Legacy, they were more affordable, and we decided to go with this firm.
We met Robert Bush who said he could do an affordable funeral and guided us on how my sister could apply for a grant. Mr Bush seemed willing to do anything for us. He could sense that we hadn’t arranged a funeral.
The package he put together for us had cars, etc, included but when we rang up a few weeks later about these, he said he had just added these so we could get a bigger grant and they were not actually included. After the first meeting however, my brother instantly knew there was something off with Robert Bush. The council awarded the grant which was paid to Legacy.
Mr Bush made some strange comments like “it’s been a pleasure working with your dad this week. I’ve had a lot of fatties in this week, it’s been hard work and your dad is little”.
Mr Bush seemed a bit unorganised and when we made appointments to see him, he took a while to answer the door and the premise always appeared shut when you were outside. On 28/11/2023, my dad’s service took place. My sister confirmed that dad was cremated two days after the service.
On 01/02/2024, the coroner called confirming that they’d ruled my dad’s case would be going to a full inquest. I know that for an inquest that information about the cremation would be needed.
I was unable to attend appointments to collect my dad’s ashes and when I did attend Legacy on 03/03/2024, Mr Bush finally answered the door when I was outside. He left us in the reception and disappeared for about ten minutes. We then could hear a lot of banging. He then brought a bag out that was a white bag with a serial number with Dad’s name on it. When he handed them he laughed and said, “Thought I’d lost him”.
As soon as I took hold of the bag, my hand just dropped as it was so heavy. I thought that Dad was heavier when he was dead than when he was alive.
When the news came out about Legacy, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I rang the crematorium where Dad had been cremated and they confirmed that they had not cremated Dad. We were then very upset wondering if one of the bodies found at Legacy was dad.
It was then confirmed all the families in regard to the bodies had been contacted. I made enquiries and confirmed Leeds crematorium had cremated Dad on 02/02/2024.
The ashes I was originally given remained with me for months until I handed them back over to the police. I realised that the ashes I had been provided with by Robert Bush at Legacy could not be my dad’s. On asking for my dad’s ashes, I was told the police had collected ashes.
The police had the ashes and took them to the mortuary. My brother kept ringing the police to see if we could have the ashes back, but they kept saying they were needed as evidence.
In June 2024, the police came with a support package including photos of the ashes in a box. I decided to go to a service in Hull when we were given the ashes. And I brought him home. I am keeping dad at home with me.
I cannot believe that Robert Bush gave us the wrong ashes and that he seemed to believe this was ok. I hope Mr Bush is held fully accountable and is correctly punished for what he has done to all the victims and their families.
It is heartbreaking for all the families and we as a family just want answers as to why he has done. He has picked the most vulnerable of society. We were open and honest with him, and we think he took advantage of this.
He knew how to manipulate the system. He has no empathy for anyone. We were having difficulty dealing with Dad’s death in the first place. We had to go to the coroner’s court as well so this incident with Legacy just caused more stress and worry.
Brooke Atkinson