Jessie Stockdale’s granddaughters have been left devastated by the Legacy Funerals scandal
Jessie Stockdale
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.
I am the granddaughter of the late Jessie Stockdale. She died on 13th November and we thought she had been cremated on 1st December but received ashes back on 11th December.
We received a phone call from the police, and they visited us and read a statement informing us that they had found a body they believed to be my nanna’s and told us she still had a tag on her ankle. It was about six weeks from submitting the DNA to receiving the results. I can’t stop thinking about her decomposing body.
After the news broke in March I wondered whose ashes I had. Those ashes had been shared between my family. After my nanna died, I went with my brother to arrange the funeral with Robert Bush. We were never asked to sign anything, but he was telling me all the things he could do and made out everything was under control.
He then told us how much everything was going to be. We didn’t sign anything, and he didn’t explain anything about the documentation, but he did ask if she had any possessions such as a Rolex. He used an example of someone making a complaint that they could ask where it is.
After we did the paperwork, he had to collect my nanna from the Coroner and he tried to ring Hull Royal to chase it up. Next day my brother got a call to say they had picked her up and she was at the Legacy building. We went to see her and Robert Bush had put her in a pink shroud, not the hospital nightgown that we expected her to be in. The coffin looked like it was too big for her and there was a smell in the viewing room that she was in. I thought the smell was my nanna and I didn‘t want to touch her.
I remember seeing a round stain on the carpet and wondered what it was. I kept a distance away from the coffin. The next day my brother asked me to go and see my nanna again and I remember Robert saying they have had to put my nanna in the Chapel as the bulbs won’t stop flashing in the room she was in, and he said he doesn’t know whether it is the electrics. I never smelt the horrible smell in the chapel.
Robert also put my nanna in a smaller coffin and the trim on the outside of the coffin looked like it was sun bleached. Looking back there was stains on the frills in the coffin and there was a post-it note on the front of the coffin that had Jessica on it. That was not my nanna’s name. she is called Jessie.
When we got the ashes back my nanna’s name was on a label printed on Legacy paper and stuck to what looked like a purple sweet jar. She was then transferred into what looked like a pine box and there were not many ashes in it compared to the sweet jar that was full. On the day of the funeral I remember seeing plug-in air fresheners everywhere. It was the middle of winter, and I remember it being freezing and two double doors were open and more double doors that opened out into the Chapel. I remember thinking people down Hessle Road could see in and see what was going on.
The actions of Robert Bush have greatly affected my life. My life is revolving around this case because I have no control over it and feel it has taken over my life.
I feel devastated, anxious and guilty because we picked that funeral place, especially out of all the funeral places that there are around. The impact is ongoing for me and my kids’ lives and we’ve all had to grieve twice and have two funerals. I now feel I can’t trust people in the funeral industry. It has a long-term impact.
Claire Stockdale
I am the granddaughter of the late Jessie Stockdale who passed away on 13th November 2023. I am making this statement in relation to the Legacy Funeral Directors Investigation.
I became aware of the case because my cousin who lived with my grandma was informed by the police that they had found her body. Since learning of this case in early March 24 this has affected me in a lot of different ways.
When I first became aware of the incident, I found this to be very emotional and I couldn’t wrap my head around what had happened. All I could think about was that my grandma was in this place for so long and we were all getting on with our lives and she was essentially forgotten. I felt a lot of guilt around that.
I have my father-in-law’s ashes at my house which my partner has had for the past ten years and suddenly I felt really uncomfortable around them, for no reason whatsoever. I kept thinking that how would we know that what was in the box was actually his ashes and not somebody else’s.
It was really hard to try and explain to my children. They knew that something was happening but did not understand why and when I tried to sit them down and explain to them it did not sink in. I do think it will be something that will affect me for the rest of my life and when it comes to the time for my mum and dad to go, it will be something at the back of my mind wondering if the same thing could happen again.
I now think that if anyone passes away in my life there will always be the thought in the back of my mind that it will happen again. I think I will need to be 100 per cent sure that it is the person who’s passed away that has been put into the coffin or furnace.
Kelly Mearns