BEHIND CLOSED DOORS WAS A SCENE NO FAMILY COULD IMAGINE… 💔 HORROR DISCOVERY INSIDE LEGACY FUNERAL HOME LEAVES COMMUNITY STUNNED
Inside Legacy funeral home of horrors where director Robert Bush left bodies piled up
WARNING – DISTRESSING CONTENT: Police who arrived at Robert Bush’s funeral parlour, Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull, were shocked after discovering 35 bodies and bags of ashes among a back room of chaos
There’s meant to be dignity in death, but these shocking pictures show how callous funeral director Robert Bush treated the deceased – and their grieving families – with utter contempt.
The 35 bodies and the ashes of more than 100 people who he was entrusted with sat among rubbish, scrap cars, motorbikes and wine boxes.
The public-facing front of Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull featured a perfectly respectable waiting room and chapel. But behind the facade of order and dignity lay a back room of horror and chaos. Among the large number of bodies, 17 had putrefied within a dirty cold storage area.
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Four motorbike leathers were treated with more respect than the dead(Image: Humberside Police)
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Cruel Legacy funeral director Robert Bush laughed as he told police his industry was ‘highly unregulated’
Phone of dead British woman, 38, found stuffed inside suitcase was being ‘used to cover up her death’
Bush, 48, has admitted 67 offences including denying 30 people a decent and proper burial, and fraud charges relating to giving families the ashes of strangers.
When police were called to the scene in March 2024 he proudly boasted about his chapel, telling them: “It seats about 70 people, it’s got a lectern, the coffin sits at the front.” Bush described how they had a vicar “the same as a crematorium” and a celebrant with a slide show on a screen.
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Two motorbikes were found in the workshop of the Hessle Road premises(Image: Humberside Police)
But in the giant back room, among the clutter, bodies were stored on shelves three racks high in an “undignified manner”. As the prosecutor told Hull crown court this week: “The vast majority were uncovered and in varying states of decomposition.
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“There was a further naked body lying on a stretcher on the floor. In addition, there was one sealed wooden coffin and four sealed cardboard coffins. There was evidence of human putrefaction visible on the floor, and a mop and bucket in the corner of the room which contained further evidence of putrefaction.
“Many of the bodies had hospital ID bracelets on their wrists and/or ankles, some had biological hazard bracelets, while others had no identifying markers.”
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Police found chaos in the back rooms at Legacy(Image: Humberside Police)
The workshop, complete with body gurney and slab, also had a sink labelled “dirty area” full of scissors and waste. Among the rubbish was a Christmas tree.
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In another room was a single comfy chair with a foot rest in front of a screen. Disturbingly, families have told of their fears Bush was watching them as they visited their loved ones.
Also at the premises was a book about a road trip to America, motorbikes and four sets of motorbike leathers and helmets hanging neatly from the wall. They appeared to be better cared for than the bodies stored nearby or bags of ashes lined up on the floor.
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Piles of clothes, believed to have been left for the deceased to be dressed in, were found at the site(Image: Humberside Police)
Katie Woolston, 28, who had gone to Legacy after her fourth miscarriage and now fears her child was dumped in a bin by Bush, said: “People’s loved ones were in the building, so why on Earth was he storing motorbikes and cars in there?”
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As well as fleecing around 200 families out of more than £550,000 through fraudulent pre-paid funeral plans, Bush – who spent £42,000 on holidays alone – also failed to pass on donations given by relatives and mourners to charity.
The disgraceful scenes at Legacy – and Bush’s sick deception – were uncovered by funeral directors who had been called in to collect a body for him while he was away in the US.
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Public-facing areas looked clean and well organised(Image: Humberside Police)
Gary Pickering and Steve Emmerson, of Evergreen Funeral Directors, were so disturbed they took immediate action. The prosecutor said: “Putting it simply, they were shocked by what they saw – but then saw a passing police car which they flagged down and they spoke to a PC.
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“The officer described the witnesses as being shaken as they relayed the details to him.
“Three police officers then attended Mr Bush’s premises where they found a large number of human bodies within a cold storage area of the premises.”
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Though in front of the desk looked somewhat neat and organised to customers, behind the desk told the truth about the funeral home(Image: Humberside Police)
The prosecutor added: “There was also evidence of personal possessions with some of the deceased and other personal effects on the floor and on shelving.”
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A report on the conditions in the premises detailed how containers of ashes were found all over the premises, with most “stored in an undignified manner”.
Some were stacked chaotically on shelves or on the floor where damp had caused mould to grow on the boxes. In some instances, ash was found on desk surfaces, in empty and unidentified boxes and, in one room, strewn across the floor.
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Bags of ashes were found on the floor of the Hessle Road branch(Image: Humberside Police)
Families had complained about a bad smell coming from the premises with one noticing mould on his gran’s coffin.
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Photographs show one room full of wood cuttings after Bush started making his own MDF coffins to save money.
After harrowing victim impact statements this week, Bush will be sentenced on Friday.
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Bush had started making his own coffins(Image: Humberside Police)
One of twisted Robert Bush’s victims has told the Mirror the funeral director went quickly from the “consummate professional” to “Frankenstein”.
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Speaking in our brief film about Bush’s crooked acts, Karen Dry said she is praying the fiend is served justice for his crimes. The mum-of-two told us she may never know if she actually has her mum and dads’ ashes.
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This image released to the media by Humberside Police shows the state of the upstairs space in Legacy
Bush is being sentenced at Hull crown court for more than 65 offences which took place over 12 years with hundreds of victims and their grieving families impacted.
Speaking in our footage, Ms Dry, of Cottingham, Hull, said: “He was charming. He was pleasant and very patient, he was a consummate professional. He had a certain pleasantness about him. He had a nice personality.
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“But we realised he was actually a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The truth is you can’t DNA-test ashes. This man has affected hundreds of families. A small village full. There’s probably more Frankensteins elsewhere – hiding in plain sight.”
