Funeral director admits giving women ashes he claimed were their unborn children

A former funeral director has admitted a string of offences including presenting four women with ashes he falsely claimed were those of their unborn children.

Robert Bush pleaded guilty to offences spanning more than 10 years at his business, Legacy Independent Funeral Directors’ in Hull.

Humberside Police launched a major investigation into remains found at one of the firm’s sites in March last year after they received a report of “concern of care for the deceased”.

On Wednesday Bush, 47, pleaded guilty to 35 counts of fraud by false representation, including four “foetus allegations”, where he presented ashes to women falsely saying that they were “the remains of their unborn”.

He admitted 31 charges of fraud by failing to care for human remains “in accordance with the normal expected practices of a competent funeral director”, with 30 relating to named victims and one relating to customers of his business between August 2017 and March 2024.

Most of these charges said Bush falsely told bereaved families that the ashes they were given were those of their loved one.

They also said he had lied about saying he would “arrange for the cremation … to take place immediately or soon after the conclusion of the funeral service”.

Bush admitted fraudulent trading over funeral plans sold between May 2012 and March 2024 by leading customers to believe their money would be used to pay for future funeral arrangements, but keeping it and “using it for his own purposes”.

Bush pleaded not guilty to 30 counts of preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body, and one count of theft from 12 charities.

He is due to go on trial for those offences at Sheffield Crown Court in October next year.

Bush, formerly of Kirk Ella, East Yorkshire, but now of Otley, West Yorkshire, arrived at court wearing a black baseball cap and scarf covering his face, and left flanked by at least 10 police officers.

He wore a grey three-piece suit with a white shirt and mauve tie for the half-hour hearing.

Judge John Thackray KC, the Recorder of Hull, granted Bush conditional bail until the trial, which is expected to take eight weeks.

Humberside Police launched an investigation into the funeral home after a report of “concern for care of the deceased” in March last year.

A month after the investigation started, the force said it had received more than 2,000 calls on a dedicated phone line from families concerned about their loved ones’ ashes.

Bush, who is on bail, was charged in April, after what officers said was a “complex, protracted and highly sensitive 10-month investigation” into the firm’s three sites in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire.