They spared no expense but cruelly fell victims to Robert Bush’s horrific crimes
Tributes outside the Legacy Independent Funeral Directors premises in Hessle Road, Hull(Image: Getty Images)
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 family and I have not had to plan with a funeral before so we had no idea of the process at all. We put all of our faith and trust into Rob and the company, trusting that he would see our vulnerabilities at the worst time of our lives and ensure our father would be cared for and the correct procedures would be followed.
We didn’t question anything, despite a number of things which we now realise were not right, as we trusted them to do the right thing by us. Since all of this broke in the news, a lot of paranoia has been created. I cannot stop thinking about what actually happened with my father and I am struggling to comprehend what has happened not only to my father, but all of the families affected.
I first suffered grief at a young age so knew what was coming when we were losing our father, although watching him suffer prior to his death and then losing him affected me massively, I was more prepared for this and was managing to deal with it. Since the news broke, the thought of what may have happened is too much to bear and I completely sympathise with all of the other families going through this.
We do not know if we actually have my fathers’ ashes which has caused great upset to us all, we are all suffering mental torture. Further to my earlier victim personal statement that I made on 2nd July 2024, I now wish to add the following:
Two years has passed since I first gave that statement and I have really struggled with coping with what happened. In the time that the investigation has been ongoing, I have tortured myself, going over things in my mind and wondering what might have happened to my dad and to others. I feel sure that he wasn’t properly taken care of due to the mark on his cheek which makes me think he can’t have been stored correctly. My family and I really wanted the best for dad at his funeral, because he’d had such a hard life. This was why we went all out, sparing no expense – we chose a horse and cart and an expensive coffin as it was important to us to give him a high-quality service.
We later realised that the coffin we got was not the expensive one we had paid for. I question whether this was just a cheap coffin that was used for everyone. The sad thing is, it’s not just my mind running away with me, Robert Bush has actually committed such terrible crimes which make any of my concerns feel possible.
It is horrendous how he has treated people in the most vulnerable times of their lives. I have questioned myself for using Legacy to put my dad to rest but at the time when you are going through it, you just trust the funeral directors are going to carry out their role properly and with care. I have since lost three other close family members over the space of two months in the last year. For each of those family members’ funerals, we used another Funeral Directors and the difference in the quality of service was unbelievable.
This was how we should have been treated by Legacy – with commitment, communication and compassion. It has made me realise just how awful it was at Legacy – you could never get hold of Robert Bush, the shutters were often down and he didn’t answer the phone or respond to messages.
The premises was like sitting inside a caravan, it was small and inadequate. We had to shuffle into the room to see my dad, where he was laid out on a decorator’s pasting table. It is also infuriating to me to think that on the day of my dad’s funeral, friends and family have donated money thinking it was going to Macmillan and that this money was never received.
The fact that this money was taken by Robert Bush is disgusting beyond words. Macmillan nurses were brilliant and so dedicated to helping my dad when he was really unwell. They pushed for him to get the care he needed when my dad felt he wasn’t being listened to.
If it hadn’t been for them I think he would have died much sooner. My dad couldn’t speak towards the end and he used to write notes to communicate, he wrote about the Macmillan nurses and how much he appreciated what they had done for him. The support that Macmillan provides for cancer patients is desperately needed, it is devastating to think those donations were not received. I find it overwhelming to even think about how someone could do this.
So many families have been affected by this case and the impact on our lives has been massive. People are desperate for answers. I know that I and many others feel like we have been living with the effects of this shocking experience for the last two years and nothing has happened to Robert Bush yet.
Caszandra Long