Victims of disgraced funeral boss demand industry regulation
Summary
Robert Bush, a funeral director in Hull, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for crimes including failing to bury or cremate bodies and giving families ashes that were not their relatives’. Victims’ families are now campaigning for the UK government to create formal rules and oversight for the funeral industry, which currently has few regulations.Key Facts
- Robert Bush owned Legacy Independent Funeral Directors and failed to handle bodies properly.
- Police found 35 bodies at his funeral home months after funerals had taken place.
- Bush gave nearly 200 families ashes of strangers and defrauded them of over £500,000.
- He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for 67 offences, including preventing lawful burials.
- Funeral industry in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland is currently self-regulated with no formal laws or mandatory training.
- Victims’ families, including Tristan Essex and his sister Claire, are demanding full government regulation of the funeral industry.
- The UK Department for Health and Social Care plans to propose formal regulation and consult families.
- Bush admitted that inspections by trade groups have no real penalties for failures and highlighted the industry's lack of regulation.
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