Hull funeral director sentenced for industrial-scale fraud

A funeral director in Hull breached the trust of hundreds of grieving families "on an almost industrial scale," a court heard on Monday, July 27, 2026, as a five-day sentencing hearing began for his extensive catalogue of crimes. Robert Bush, 48, the owner of Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, previously admitted to 67 offences, including preventing lawful burials, fraud, and theft from charities, after police discovered a "horror scene" at his Hessle Road premises in March 2024.

The scale of the offending was uncovered by chance when Bush, while on holiday in Arizona, asked two other funeral directors to collect a body from a care home. A casual worker at Legacy, Patrick Moore, assisted them and revealed that Bush had instructed him not to bring anyone back to the premises. Moore told the men, "You two don't know the half of it, bodies have been there for years," and counted up to 29 bodies, describing the scene as something from a horror film. The visiting directors, shocked by what they saw, flagged down a police car.

Officers who raided the facility found a large number of human bodies within a cold storage area. Prosecuting barrister Chris Paxton KC told Hull Crown Court...