Hull funeral home victim fears 'monster' director could be eligible for early prison release

One of the Hull funeral home victims fears the “monster” funeral director could be eligible for Labour’s early prison release scheme.

Tracey Hudson, who was given the wrong ashes for her mother, Annie Kendall, sobbed as she told Hull Crown Court how she was worried funeral director Robert Bush might be released early after he is sentenced.

Bush, 48, has admitted 67 offences, including preventing a lawful and decent burial, fraudulent trading, fraud by false representation and theft from well-known charities.

This followed the discovery of 35 bodies and more than 100 sets of ashes at the premises of his firm Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, in Hull, in March 2024.

Ms Hudson said: “I have anger in me because of Bush. He has tarnished my mum’s memory.

“I’m fearful that if Bush is sentenced to custody, that he will get early release.

“I’m angrier and more frustrated than I have ever felt in my life.

Bush committed fraud concerning the ashes of 57 people between 2017 and 2024, Hull Crown Court was told today.

The total value of this fraud is around £86,868 with 46 victims identified where ashes have been wrongly returned to families, and an additional 11 families where no ashes have ever been returned, prosecutor Chris Paxton KC said.

He added that the “lack of book keeping” by Bush was “quite profound”, making it “very difficult to follow” the number of funerals overseen by the him during this time.

It comes as Kemi Badenoch has agreed to work with Labour should they look at ways to scrap the scheme.

The Tory leader said Prime Minister Andy Burnham “hasn’t done anything at all to pause” the early release programme.

At a press conference, Ms Badenoch added: “If Andy Burnham wants to prove that he is serious about this, he needs to revoke the commencement order.

“It’s quite clear that the Prime Minister sees that this is a problem, but I don’t think he knows what to do about it.

“We have done the work. We know that we need to revoke the commencement order immediately – he could do that today. That would show that he is really pausing it.

“And then he needs to bring in emergency legislation by September 2.

“This can be done – we heard the Government talk about bringing in emergency legislation for a bank holiday if we won the World Cup.

“They can do this and we will be here to help them facilitate that.”