WARNING: This article contains details some may find distressing. The third day of the sentencing of the former Legacy funeral director heard disturbing details of what was found at Bush’s premises and the thefts of charity donations as well as how he was spending thousands of pounds on holidays, shopping and more
Court artist drawing of Robert Bush at Hull Crown Court(Image: Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire)
Prosecutors in the case of Robert Bush say the disgraced Legacy funeral director should face up to 25 years in prison. On Wednesday, the third day of a sentencing hearing at Hull Crown Court heard further details of the 67 offences he has admitted spanning around 12 years.
This included the theft of charitable donations, horrific descriptions of what investigators found at Legacy premises, and an insight into the lifestyle Bush was enjoying, including spending £42,000 on holidays within a few years.
Prosecutor, Steven Ball, outlined the sentencing guidelines for each of Bush’s offences and called it an “unprecedented case”. When asked by the judge what prosecutors thought the total sentence should be, Mr Ball said: “It’s a difficult question to navigate… but somewhere between 20 and 25 years.”
The court heard there were no sentencing guidelines and no maximum penalty for the offence of preventing a lawful burial, and previous cases did not reflect what Bush had been doing.
The first two days of the hearing saw dozens horrifying accounts from relatives of the deceased read out in court. Many spoke through tears as they described Bush’s “callous” disregard for the remains of relatives he had been entrusted with.
The court heard how he kept 31 bodies, including a stillborn baby in a paper bag, at his premises while telling their families they had been cremated and giving them the ashes of a stranger. Bush was said to have committed fraud in relation to 57 sets of ashes – including 46 families who were given the wrong ashes, and 11 families who were never given any at all.
Bodies ‘abandoned’ and ashes on the floor
Distressing details were heard about what was found in the “chaotic” Legacy funeral home. There were gasps and sobs from the public gallery as descriptions of police findings were read out.
Family photographs left out of coffins, jewellery not returned to families, and unidentified ashes in mouldy boxes were among the disturbing discoveries. A report by forensic scientist and former funeral director Dr Richard Lloyd described the Hessle Road site as having “a wholly inadequate approach to care for the deceased”. Dr Lloyd’s report said “bodies were simply abandoned… for nature to take its course” and that the first stages of cleansing did not appear to have been carried out on any of the deceased found at the premises.
The court heard that there was a large quantity of unidentified clothing which probably should have been for dressing the deceased, meaning this “last office” service was routinely not carried out. Though some was labelled, other jewellery found that should have been returned to families was unbagged and therefore essentially untraceable.
The main cold room at the funeral home was very dirty, the report said. Also, though the main reception and waiting rooms were in a reasonably tidy state, all non-public-facing areas were not with some “in a lamentable state”. It was described as “chaotic” with rubbish kept alongside paperwork.
The report said containers of ashes were found all over the site, with most “stored in an undignified manner”, often stacked in a disorganised fashion on shelves or on the floor where damp had caused mould to grow on the boxes. Ash was also found on desk surfaces, in empty and unidentified boxes and, in one room, spread across the floor.
Donations ‘were not paid to charities as requested’
Regarding the theft of charity donations, Mr Ball, prosecuting, told the court: “The police were contacted by members of the public, who expressed concerns that donations that were donated at Legacy following funerals were not paid to their chosen charities as they requested.”
There were 12 charities involved, with the amounts totalling between an estimated £5,040 and £13,500. The mean figure was an estimated £9,270.
One of the charities was the Salvation Army, including the Hull Citadel and the Ice House, two local Salvation Army centres. A collection after a funeral was thought to have raised £100 to £150 for the Salvation Army but no donation was ever received.
The Macmillan Cancer Support charity relied on donations for 99 per cent of its funding. A collection after a funeral was expected to have raised between £300 and £600 for the charity. Bush told the family: “We’ll take care of it, don’t worry.” The charity never received the donation.
Help for Heroes was supposed to receive a donation from a collection at the funeral of a woman who had been an army nurse. There was a collection tray and a number of cheques were given but the charity never received any of the money.
Other charities that did not receive donations as expected included Maister Lodge, Dove House Hospice, Dogs Trust, Oakwood Dog Rescue, the RNLI, Sailors’ Children’s Society, WISHH and the Hull Fishing Heritage charity.
£42,000 spent on holidays
The court also heard Bush had spent tens of thousands of pounds on holidays while he was defrauding customers. He spent £9,000 on camping and almost £7,000 on motorcycle racing. Financial records submitted to the court showed that, between 2017 and 2024, Bush spent more than £42,000 on holidays, £21,000 on motorcycle racing and £17,400 on home improvements.
This took place during the time he was defrauding customers by taking money for funeral plans he did not have the authorisation to set up. The judge, Mr Justice Hilliard, asked for a detailed breakdown of Bush’s spending, saying: “I think people who have lost their money will want to know what it went on.”
His holiday outlays over this seven-year period included £6,400 on three trips to Center Parcs, £3,800 on a trip to Italy, and £3,000 on the holiday he was taking with his daughter in Arizona when the horrors at the funeral home were discovered in March 2024.
Almost £10,000 of retail spending, including £1,000 in Boodles jewellers, and £3,385 on restaurants, including £250 for a meal at a fashionable Covent Garden restaurant were highlighted in court.
Mr Ball said that, between March 17, 2017 and April 8, 2024, almost £1.49 million was transferred into Bush’s personal bank account from Legacy business accounts.
Between March 17, 2017 and April 8, 2024, the sum of £1,733,000 was received into the personal bank accounts of Robert Bush. The amount transferred from Legacy was £1,488,218.
Between March 7, 2017 and March 18, 2024, the sum received into Legacy’s bank accounts was £3,324,444. Of that, the amount transferred from Bush’s personal accounts was £532,704.
“The turnover reported to Companies House and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs does not reflect these values,” said Mr Ball. There were no substantiated business records from Bush to explain the “variance”.
Questions about regulations
The judge said he has heard several times during the hearing this week about how there is no national regulation of the funeral sector. Many are campaigning for the Government to change this.
However, he asked to know why existing regulations around dead bodies appeared to not have been followed by authorities, saying “they go round and there are a number of uncremated bodies, all this comes to a stop”. Mr Justice Hilliard said “so, what’s happened about that?”
Prosecutors explained how forms used to monitor the process of burial or cremation were not returned by Bush and “this was not followed up by the assigned registrar”. The judge said: “Why didn’t they? What’s the explanation?” Facing many of the victims of Bush in public gallery, he said: “There’s public interest in this. I can see people here nodding. They want to know what’s happened.”
Mr Ball told the judge he will update the court about the position, which appears to be “an internal matter for the local authority”. The judge said: “Yes and no. We’re in a public court now dealing with very serious offences.” He added: “I’ll need some persuading this is an entirely internal matter.”
Bush ‘accepts case is not simply about money’
Richard Wright KC, mitigating, said Bush, who is “hated and despised” by others, accepts “a significant custodial sentence is inevitable” and that he will have “come to terms with what he has done”.
He said that there was, over a long period of time, a “systemic failure” by Bush to treat the deceased as they should have been treated. “Over time, bodies were not treated as rapidly as they should have been as far as progressing them to burial or cremation,” said Mr Wright.
“Once that delay had been built in to his operations, it remained. Once it was there, it perpetrated itself up to the point of the police intervention.” He said media coverage has meant that “the world” had listened on as “victim after victim after victim” had spoken, either bravely in person in court, or having their statements read by the prosecution. “Robert Bush has, of course, listened to every statement being read,” said Mr Wright.
They had “castigated his character” and poured out the outrage and pain all directed at him “and rightly directed at him”. Bush had heard the harm caused and the human cost of what he had done.
The money involved was a “final insult” but it was not what the case was primarily about. “This case has caused extreme emotional pain and upset on a scale that it is difficult to comprehend,” said Mr Wright.
“Dignity in death matters and there can be no hiding from the fact that, by his conduct, Robert Bush has deprived the dead, their families, their loved ones of that basic dignity,” said Mr Wright. It was accepted that, such was the scale of his offending, and so gross the breach of trust that it represented, that whether he conducted hundreds or thousands of other funerals perfectly properly and even if the standard of his care was otherwise exemplary, this would have tainted the memory of those bodies that went through his hands.
“That is the consequence,” said Mr Wright. Mr Justice Hilliard said that no one would ever know. Anyone who used the services of Legacy could not know “what they have got”.
Mr Wright added: “By recognising the appalling effect of his offending, he does not seek to minimise what he has done. He accepts entirely that this case is not simply about money.
“It’s about the families who placed their trust in him at a time of profound grief. He understands that the damage caused by his offending cannot be measured only in financial terms.
“The families affected are properly at the centre of this sentencing exercise. Nothing I say in this mitigation is intended to dilute their pain, their anger or that sense of betrayal.
“They entrusted the deceased into the hands of a professional. The breach of trust is obvious and gross. The defendant has expressed himself to the court, and through the court to the families, as being sorry.”
Bush’s apology was likely to be “angrily rejected” or seen as “a late attempt to gain some trifling advantage” in court. “It’s not that,” said Mr Wright. It was understandable that others would see the apology as this, whatever it was.
“He is condemned whatever he now does,” said Mr Wright. “He offers that apology without qualification and he accepts responsibility.”
Mr Wright added: “There are demands for answers. Where did the money go? Why did he do it? What was it spent on? They are all very good questions.”
The answers might include greed, incompetence, the passage of time with an inability to keep up with his own failings. “All of these are likely to have played a part,” said Mr Wright.
67 charges
In April, Bush changed his pleas to guilty on 31 charges, including 30 of preventing the lawful and decent burials of dead people and one offence of theft from charities.
Bush originally denied the offences and a trial was due to be held in October. He had already admitted 36 fraud-related offences.
Bush, 48, formerly of Kirk Ella, but later of East Busk Lane, Otley, West Yorkshire, originally entered pleas to 67 charges during his second appearance at Hull Crown Court last year. Two extra fraud charges had been added to the previous ones.
Bush had, at the earlier hearing, denied 30 charges involving preventing the lawful and decent burial of dead people and he also denied one offence of theft from a series of charities. He admitted 30 offences of fraud by false representation to the families or, in one case, a friend of a deceased person.
He also admitted fraudulent trading and five offences of fraud by false representation to customers of Legacy Independent Funeral Directors or individual people. Earlier this year, Bush changed his pleas to guilty on the matters which he had originally denied.
The 30 charges involving preventing the lawful and decent burial of dead people and the one offence of theft were put to him again. He entered guilty pleas to them all.
The sentencing hearing continues and Bush was further remanded in custody.
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