John Banyard has finally received a refund of nearly £1,000 from Virgin Money after a two-year fight – and believes other victims may be entitled to money they are not getting
John Banyard paid out £974 in funeral costs for his friend John Carlill(Image: Submitted)
One of the victims of disgraced undertaker Robert Bush’s fraudulent funerals has told of his “exhausting” two-year fight for a refund. Since discovering he had fallen victim to Bush’s crimes, John Banyard repeatedly attempted to recoup the money he had spent on his friend’s funeral from Virgin Money, repeatedly telling them he was a victim of fraud. He first raised a claim in 2024 and has only this week been confirmed to have received a refund under Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM) rules.
He now believes other families who fell prey to Bush’s crimes are entitled to refunds that they may not be getting. Mr Banyard became the sole executor of his friend John Carlill’s estate upon his passing, and arranged for a funeral with the Hessle Road funeral director. Mr Carlill’s body was one of more than thirty found in Bush’s funeral home, months after Mr Banyard believed he had received the cremated remains of his friend.
Mr Banyard first raised a claim with the bank in late 2024, believing his case falls under the CRM Code – a voluntary set of guidelines designed to protect bank customers from fraud, where a person is tricked into sending money to a criminal. He was told by Humberside Police in March of 2024 that the ashes he was cherishing in his home did not belong to Mr Carlill, who had died in September 2023. In total, Bush had received £974 for a funeral and cremation for Mr Carlill.
Mr Banyard said: “It was late 2024 that I started contacting Virgin Money at their head office. Initially I contacted the complaints department and told them about what had gone on. They said: ‘We can’t deal with that, we are going to have to put you on to the fraud department’. Then the fraud department said they couldn’t deal with it, and passed me on to the bereavement department. They then said, perhaps I should contact the fraud department. I was going round and round in circles.”
He was given multiple log numbers which he says were never recognised whenever he called back up for updates. “By the end of 2024, I must’ve made a dozen or so phone calls. The frustration was unbearable. I was exhausted with it all, so I just left it,” he said. He tried again in 2025, but again was “pushed about from department to department”. “I thought I just can’t do this, I’m exhausted. I threw in the towel. I can’t tell you how unbearable it all was.”
Mr Banyard recalls offering to pay Bush a second time for the funeral, after the rogue funeral director claimed he had not received the money from Mr Carlill’s account. “I offered to take my debit card out. Bush was pushing me for payment. I was deeply embarrassed, but I believe it was a ploy to get another £1,000 out of me,” he said.
Bush pleaded guilty to 67 charges, including the prevention of a lawful and decent burial, fraud, fraudulent trading, and theft. It emerged that he had defrauded charities of money they were pledged in people’s funeral collections and sold some victims fraudulent funeral plans. More than 30 bodies were found in his warehouse. Their families believed they had been cremated or buried. It was only when Bush was sentenced to 20 years in prison in July of this year that Mr Banyard felt he had the strength to try again with the bank. He felt “elated” after the sentence was passed and met other families in the courtroom that day who were also fighting for refunds.
He said: “I picked myself up off the floor, dusted myself down, and thought ‘I’m going to go again’. I now had evidence that Mr Bush had committed fraud. I decided on a new tactic. I’m not contacting the complaints department, I’ve exhausted that avenue. I thought the new tactic was to walk into the branch office on Paragon Street. I was determined I wasn’t going to move from that bank until I had an answer.”
After waiting for two hours to speak to someone, the branch manager, who was covering at the store, spoke to John and was sympathetic to his claims. “Without that man helping I think the situation might’ve been different,” Mr Banyard said. Finally, on Monday, he received an email to say his claim does fall under the CRM rules and he could expect a full refund.
An email to Mr Banyard, sent from a senior complaint handler at Nationwide, Virgin Money’s parent company, said: “Following Fraud’s investigation, your claim was approved because it met the criteria for CRM reimbursement. I can also confirm that the payment has now been credited to your account.” A comment from Nationwide said: “We’re really sorry for what this customer has gone through. With the case now complete we have reviewed our decision and are arranging a full refund.”
While not all victims will qualify for refunds under the CRM rules, many other victims are still campaigning for their right to their money back, with some receiving refunds as a goodwill gesture from their banks.
Mr Banyard will make a donation to one of the charities that Bush withheld money from, The Hull Fishing Heritage Centre on Hessle Road. Mr Banyard says his friend John – a deep sea fisherman for over 25 years – would approve of the donation.
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.
