Bodies in cardboard coffins left to rot, others laying dead for eight months: The victims of fraudulent funeral director
Some of the hundreds of victims of fraudulent funeral director Robert Bush started reading their victim impact statements
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Victims whose relatives were left to "rot" in cardboard coffins by a fraudulent funeral director who let others lay dead for eight months have told a court of their suffering.
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Robert Bush is being sentenced after he gave grieving families the wrong ashes while their loved ones’ bodies were left at his site for months at Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull.
The 48-year-old has admitted 67 offences which includes 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burials which spanned 12 years and affected hundreds of victims.
Police found 31 bodies which should have been cremated months earlier at the site when they searched it following concerns over "care of the deceased" by someone visiting.
Read more: Four men charged with murder after man, 24, stabbed in city centre
Victims have given impact statements at Hull Crown Court, which could last five days.
A man whose uncle’s body was left "to rot" said Bush’s actions seem a "determined effort to destroy so many lives".
Mark Hotham died aged 87 in September 2023 and his body was discovered at Legacy on Hessle Road some 180 days after.
Nephew Nigel Hotham said he and his sister, Zoe, first learned of the investigation into Legacy through reports in the press, and Zoe had had a “strong feeling Mark was still there” at the premises.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Hotham said of Bush: "I can’t forgive him and don’t think I ever will.
"One mistake is perhaps forgivable but to mistreat so many people is a huge betrayal. This is not just an error of judgment.
"It feels like a determined effort to destroy so many lives. You are supposed to trust a funeral director."
Mr Hotham said his uncle "should have been treated with compassion and respect but he was left in a body bag, on a shelf, to rot".
Muriel Winning’s body was recovered from Legacy seven months after her death.
Her son, Byron Lill, had already been given some ashes that he thought were those of his mother by Bush, and had them on his window sill.
Ashes believed to be those of her mother, Pauline Campbell, who died in April 2022, were also found.
Mr Lill, who became emotional while reading his statement, said: "Mum believed in life after death and wanted to be dressed in her wedding dress when she died, in readiness for meeting with (her husband) David again.
"(My wife) Helen and I carried out her wishes and ensured she was dressed as she wanted. All this care was lost on Robert Bush.
"All the hard work and tireless care we willingly gave mum was for nothing. She protected us her whole life from mistreatment, and it feels that the one time I could repay her and protect her, I couldn’t.
"Bush took this away from me."
One woman also gave Robert Bush a bottle of port to thank him for "taking care" of her father after his funeral was held, a court has heard.
In her victim impact statement read to court, Karen King said that after her father’s death in April 2023 he had laid in a cardboard coffin for "almost 11 months".
She said: "I feel like we have been reliving the grief we went through when Dad died, though this time it feels so much worse.
"I find sleeping difficult as Bush’s actions are always on my mind. I have been through an emotional breakdown and the whole situation has impacted on my life greatly.
"I gave Robert Bush a bottle of port to thank him for taking care of Dad. The smile on his face as he accepted will always haunt me."