“It was a bit of comfort to think whoever those ashes were, I was looking after them and they were very much loved”
Lucy Ness contacted Robert Bush after she suffered a miscarriage in 2021(Image: Submitted)
A grieving mum was given animal remains by funeral director Robert Bush, believing they belonged to her miscarried baby. Horrified Lucy Ness was told by police investigating Legacy Independent Funerals that sadly, the ashes she’d cherished for five years were not her baby’s – and were not even human.
Bush, who has now been jailed for 20 years for his crimes gave the bereft mum the ashes on May 11, 2021, but crematorium records show her baby’s remains were not collected by Bush until two days later. Lucy said the remains were “very much loved”, but she may never know what happened to her baby.
Lucy, now 28, from West Hull, was 12 weeks pregnant when she suffered a miscarriage and entrusted Robert Bush to organise her baby’s cremation. She had previously been told she may struggle to have children, and losing the baby during Covid, without the support of her family around her, was distressing. She said Bush was “lovely” and she and partner Callum, now 29, opted to have the baby’s remains cremated.
Lucy said: “I was 12 weeks pregnant. It was April 2021 when I lost the baby. It was during Covid and I didn’t know what to do – I had to go through this alone.
My family live out of Hull, they couldn’t nip over. My best friend helped me and rang Legacy, spoke to Robert Bush and asked him how we go about it. He was lovely, ticked all the boxes, told me everything I wanted to hear.
He rang me on May 10, 2021 saying the ashes were back, and I collected them on May 11. It’s later been found out he didn’t collect my baby’s ashes until May 13.”
There is no way the remains that Lucy was given belonged to her baby, because crematorium records show Bush did not collect the baby’s ashes until two days after she had picked up what she believed to be the remains . But there was more devastating news to follow. Lucy discovered the remains she had been keeping in her home for four years were not even human. Lucy said: “I found out that the ashes he gave me were animal remains and bones. It was a smack around the face.”
Lucy was 23 when she found out she was pregnant and said it gave her, Callum and their families something to look forward to during the pandemic. She wasn’t present for the service held for her baby – and trusted Bush would take care of everything. “He said I could be there if I wanted to but, due to Covid, nobody could have come with me. I was a young girl and I couldn’t go through with that.”
Lucy and Callum were told they may struggle to conceive a child because she suffers from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). When they found out they were pregnant, she said it was happy, positive news that their entire families were elated about.
“I got told I’d struggle to have kids because I’ve got PCOS and it was one of those things that if it happened, it happened,” she said. “We were very happy about it. We told family and friends, and it was something to look forward to. Everyone could look forward to it in the family.” But two days before her 12 week scan, she started bleeding and a hospital visit confirmed she had had a miscarriage.
She was given a piece of paper asking what she would like to happen to her baby’s remains. “We decided to get the baby cremated. We thought if we are never able to have kids we’ve got something to remember our baby by. Robert Bush was recommended by a friend of a friend. I rang him and he was lovely.”
Lucy and Callum did not think there was anything suspicious about their baby’s remains until something on social media caught their eye. A post was asking anyone who thinks they may have been affected by Bush’s then-alleged crimes to get in contact with Humberside Police.
She said: “Not even a week later, I got a phone call from the police saying ‘we need to speak to you regarding the ashes’. Police had found out by the crematorium’s report that Bush didn’t pick up the ashes until May 13. So they can’t be anything to do with me. They took the ashes and a specialist opened the ashes that I was given and found animal bones and ashes. You can’t test ashes for DNA but they are 100% animal bones. The way they cremate pets is different to how they cremate babies.”
There were happier times ahead for Callum and Lucy, who had baby Vinnie in 2023, shortly before Bush’s crimes were uncovered. Vinnie was born on Lucy’s birthday. She is in regular contact with other mums whose babies were cremated by Bush and says she feels “deeply sorry” for families who had loved ones stored in Bush’s warehouse for months.
“I just hope he suffers the way that all of us have suffered. I feel deeply sorry for the people whose bodies were found and they had to go though the whole horrific thing again. It was a bit of comfort to think whoever those ashes were, I was looking after them and they were very much loved. It’s just a step too far to give me someone’s pet. People need to know what he’s actually done.”
Did you know you can make Hull Live a preferred source of Hull news in Google, which will mean you get more of our breaking news, exclusives, and must-read stories straight away? Here’s more information about what this means and how to do it – you can also do it straight away by clicking here .