'My baby was found in a paper bag on the floor': Four heartbroken mothers given wrong ashes face funeral director in court
The body of one baby was found in a paper bag on the floor of Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, almost two years after he was “born sleeping”
Four women who were given the wrong ashes for their unborn babies by fraudulent funeral director Robert Bush tearfully told a court how he had exploited them at their lowest moments.
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Bush, 48, who ran Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, gave grieving families the wrong ashes while their loved ones’ bodies were left at his site for months.
Robert Bush will be sentenced this week after pleading guilty to 67 offences, including 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial.
His offences spanned 12 years and affected hundreds of victims.
The family-owned Hull business became the centre of a criminal investigation after police were contacted by someone with access to the site in March 2024, expressing concerns over “care of the deceased".
When officers searched the premises, they found 31 bodies that should have been cremated months earlier, including a stillborn baby that had been there for almost two years.
'My son was found in a brown paper bag on the floor'
The body of Jasmine Beverley’s baby Sunny Beverley-Conlin was found in a paper bag on the floor of Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, almost two years after he was “born sleeping” on May 13 2022
The court heard Ms Beverley and her partner Ben chose Bush because she had previously used him for her late father’s funeral.
She tearfully told Hull Crown Court: “My son Sunny was born sleeping, but he was loved long before he entered this world and he will be loved for the rest of my life.
“When a parent loses a baby, all they hope for is that their child will be treated with dignity, care and respect.
“That is why we place enormous trust in the people responsible for caring for our loved ones after death.”
She turned to face Bush in the dock, who showed no emotion as she told him: “I trusted you with the most precious person in my life.”
The court heard the couple visited Sunny at Legacy on June 16 and left him a photograph of the family, a blue fleece blanket and some flowers.
A small service took place on June 17, at Legacy’s chapel, and the couple understood that Sunny was to be cremated at Chanterlands Avenue Crematorium.
They collected his ashes on March 30 2023, when Bush handed them the little blue coffin and told them that Sunny’s ashes were inside in an envelope.
Ms Beverley sobbed as she said: “Your actions have taken away something that can never be replaced – the peace of believing our loved ones were treated with care and respect after death.
“The reality I now live with is that my baby boy Sunny has spent more time in your possession than he ever did with his own family.
“I have to live with the fact that my son was kept for so long without my knowledge, and that when he was eventually found he was in a brown paper bag on the floor.
“As a mother, that is something that will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
'I often wonder where my baby’s remains are'
Katie Woolston turned to Bush when she suffered a miscarriage in May 2023.
The court heard she had used him for a previous miscarriage in March 2020, and first met him when her grandfather died in 2016.
Bush promised an urn instead of what he described as “those awful cardboard boxes”, but did not collect the baby’s remains from the hospital for several weeks, and Ms Woolston started to feel she was “being fobbed off”.
She collected a box of ashes from Legacy on September 14 2023, but records showed Bush had not collected her baby’s ashes until later that day.
Ms Woolston said: “Robert Bush made one of the most heartbreaking times of my life even more of a living nightmare.”
She was in tears as she told the court: “The news of what Bush has done to not just me but other parents too, after already going through the traumatic time that the loss of a baby is, really does hurt.
“I often wonder where my baby’s remains are, if they ever made it back to the Legacy funeral home, or if they were simply disposed of like a piece of litter, and those thoughts break my heart.”
'The heartache that we have gone through is immense'
Stacey Foster and her partner Peter Cooke had jewellery made out of their son Tommy’s ashes, only to find out they were the wrong ones.
The couple lost Tommy at just over 17 weeks in August 2023.
The court heard they were handed a black bag with a Legacy logo on it, and were shocked to discover that the ashes were in an envelope inside.
Back home they weighed the ashes and they weighed twice what Tommy had weighed, prosecutor Chris Paxton KC said.
Stacey had a ring made with some of Tommy’s ashes, and Peter kept some of the ashes in a locket worn around his neck.
Ashes at Legacy were later recovered with Tommy’s name on them and returned to the family.
Ms Foster said: “The heartache that we have gone through is immense. Not only have we lost our baby in such devastating circumstances, to be treated in such a way by Robert Bush is beyond words.”
She fought back tears as she told the court: “We were robbed of having our baby back with us and Tommy was robbed of his identity by the complete disrespect shown to Tommy and our situation by Robert Bush.”
'I have now been left with nothing but an empty bag'
Lucy Ness got in touch with Bush after having a miscarriage in April 2021.
He gave her an urn that he claimed contained her baby’s ashes, but during the raid at Legacy police found empty packaging labelled as those of her baby.
An investigation found that Bush had not collected her baby’s ashes from the crematorium until two days after he gave her the urn.
The real ashes have never been recovered.
Ms Ness told the court: “I put my trust in Robert to do the right thing and look after my baby.
“He has done the lowest of the low.
“I have now been left with nothing but an empty bag, which once contained the ashes of my baby.
“I will never know what he has done to them, where they have gone or who they are with.
“That baby was my hope and I can never forgive him for what he has done. I will never recover.”