Her loved ones have been left devastated
Floral tributes outside Legacy Independent Funeral Directors (Image: Donna Clifford/HullLive)
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 Auntie Babs’ (as I called her) health was deteriorating so we made enquiries into organising her funeral and turned to Legacy Independent Funeral Directors as they had a premise locally and they were very competitively priced and so a traditional coffin and direct cremation was arranged.
There was hardly any family so cremation was ideal. Auntie Babs passed away on 09/07/2022.
I understood that Auntie Babs’ cremation would be two to three weeks down the line. After not hearing anything for quite some time, we tried to get hold of Robert Bush who was very evasive, unavailable and when he arranged an appointment, he failed to show up.
On 23/08/2022, we received my aunt’s ashes. The ashes we got back were in a large maroon coloured plastic container that had a Legacy label on the outside. It was a poor container, and it was a cheap looking label. It was big and felt so heavy.
The plastic pot was not what I was expecting and reminded me of the large protein tubs that men use in the gym. We wanted to give Auntie Babs a nice ending. We went to the ends of the earth to find her mum and dad’s grave. We found the plot in the Northern Cemetery.
We took the ashes to the plot. We looked lower down on the gravestone and saw that Babs’ name was on as one of their children. We bought a new pot for the flowers, put some of her ashes in there and scattered the rest.
We thought placing her ashes with her family members was the last good thing we could do for her. We also took some pictures. When the news of the police investigation at the Legacy premises broke in March 2024, it did concern me.
As the news came out, I felt sickened. We found out that the police had found some cremation paperwork that Babs had been cremated in October and so the ashes given to us in the August could not have been those of Auntie Babs.
Police did find a bag with a plaque in it with Babs’ details on in but there were no ashes. I feel devastated, robbed, and sick to the stomach.
I can’t help but wonder whose ashes we spread on Auntie Babs’ parents’ grave. If in fact what we were given were even ashes. I am devastated, we do not have Babs and it feels like her life meant nothing, like there is no existence of her.
I could have someone else’s relative and they could have my relative and we will never know the truth. He has caused so much upset for 254 victims. I just can’t imagine the mentality of someone who has done this, he cannot be normal.
He can’t have one feeling for anyone. Yet when he met with us, he couldn’t have been more helpful, understanding and said, “Bless ya” a lot.
Mandy Bailey