Families who were given the wrong ashes and had their deceased loved ones kept for months by a funeral director have said they are “appalled” by his apology.
Robert Bush, 48, is due to be sentenced after he kept the bodies of 31 people, including a stillborn baby, at his site in Hull.
An investigation discovered 100 sets of ashes at Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, some with name labels and letters attached to the box.
Upon arriving in court wearing a face covering, Bush apologised to the affected families and told BBC reporters: “I’m sorry, yes.”
According to the broadcaster, he added: “I’ve written to the court. There is a letter submitted to the court.”
However, his apology was poorly received by the families of those affected, who said they were “appalled” that he had apologised to journalists but not to them.
Hull Crown Court heard that Bush had mistreated hundreds of families on an “almost industrial scale” and that his offending had affected “young and old alike”.
Bush was arrested after police were contacted by someone with access to the site in March 2024, expressing concerns over “care of the deceased” at the business.
Patrick Moore, a former casual employee at Legacy who made the discovery, described the premises as “something from a horror scene”.
Officers discovered found 31 bodies that should have been cremated months earlier and half a tonne of human ashes, as well as a human foetus in a bag.
Upon being arrested at Heathrow airport, Bush told police: “I’ve f***** it all up, everything, my whole world.”.
Mr Paxton said Bush told officers he had debts of around £90,000.
Police found that many families of the deceased found at Legacy had already been given ashes by Bush, revealing a widespread practice of him giving grieving relatives the wrong ashes.
In her victim impact statement, Karen King said she feels “violated” after discovering she had been wearing “some unknown person’s ashes” in a locket around her neck after the death of her father. She had also given Bush a bottle of port for “taking care” of her father, with the discovery of his actions causing her to have an “emotional breakdown”.
In total, there were 254 victims of Bush’s crimes, with all the charges dating from a period between May 2012 and 6 March 2024.
Investigators also learned that Bush had committed fraudulent trading in relation to funeral plans, where he would take payment for the plans but not pass any of the money on to the financial institutions that would hold it for when the funeral was required.
He also stole from charities by failing to pass on donations collected at funerals.
In April Bush pleaded guilty to 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial, and theft from 12 charities including the Salvation Army and Macmillan Cancer Support.
He had already admitted 30 counts of fraud by false representation relating to bodies found at the site, and four “foetus allegations” of fraud, where he presented ashes to women falsely saying that they were “the remains of their unborn”.
Bush also pleaded guilty to a further charge of fraud, covering the ashes of 57 people between 2017 and 2024, and one of fraudulent trading relating to funeral plans between 2012 and 2024.
The sentencing at Hull Crown Court is listed for five days, and is expected to hear from more than 100 victims.
Bush, formerly of Kirk Ella in East Yorkshire, but now of Otley in West Yorkshire, is on conditional bail.
