Legacy Funeral Directors Hull: Everything to know about scandal as police remove 34 bodies, arrest 2 for fraud and preventing burial

Police removed 34 bodies from Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, a funeral home in north England, on Monday, March 11, after the launch of an investigation over reports of “concern for care of the deceased.”

Two people, a 26-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman, were arrested on suspicion of the prevention of lawful burial and fraud by abuse of position. The police have not revealed their identities or further details about the nature of their crimes.

Humberside Police spoke about the developments after a five-day investigation into three different branches of Legacy Funeral Directors in Hull and East Yorkshire. Thom McLoughlin, the Assistant Chief Constable, said the police removed "34 bodies" and took them to a mortuary for "identification."

---

The police removed 34 bodies from a North England funeral home over suspicion of fraud

The police have recovered 34 bodies from the Hull funeral directors' firms. They also allegedly found human ashes and evidence bags from a locked-up area in the firm.

Humberside Police told ABC News that over "350 people" have contacted them since Friday after they asked loved ones of deceased individuals to contact them over any concerns. Assistant Chief Constable McLoughlin said:

“Please be reassured that my staff and officers are working around the clock to deal with the unprecedented inquiries generated as a result of this incident. Families affected continue to be supported by family liaison officers at what we appreciate is an extremely distressing time for all involved."

Earlier this month, an investigation into the funeral home began after several reports about the "concern for care of the deceased" at three branches of Legacy Funeral Directors Hull. The investigation team included over 120 staff across the country, reports the Daily Mail.

The officers reportedly cordoned off three branches of the director's home. The bodies were removed on Friday and Saturday mornings, the police told the Daily Mail.

Legacy was reportedly run by Robert Bush and his daughter, Saskya. Bush has been the director of the firm for the last 14 years. As per the Daily Mail, Legacy recently faced trouble due to "overdue accounts" and was threatened with a "compulsory strike-off." However, it ran as usual until the police investigation.

Funeral services took place at the Legacy chapel of the company, while bodies were transported for cremation to the crematorium.

---

Officers received over 1,000 calls from grieving relatives after the Legacy Funeral Directors Hull scandal

As per the Daily Mail, the police received over 1,000 calls from grieving relatives and loved ones over concerns about their deceased relatives' remains.

The police also reached out to several relatives. The Daily Mail reported that they contacted a widow who lost her husband in July 2023 after discovering her husband's body in the director's freezer. A friend of the woman's family told The Telegraph:

"They then paid quite a bit of money to have the ashes turned into crystal jewellery for his widow, daughter and grand-daughter to wear to remember him. But now they have found out that he wasn’t cremated and he has been in the freezer all this time."

The woman from East Yorkshire and her family had "paid quite a bit" to have her husband's ashes turned into crystal jewelry. They have questioned whose remains they have been wearing for so long, reports the Daily Mail.

Another woman, Billie-Jo Suffill, lost her father, Andrew, and her brother, Dwayne, in a period of five days. She alleged that she kissed goodbye to an empty coffin, thinking it was her father and her brother's ashes were of someone else, reports the Daily Mail.

"I never actually got to see my dad's body. I bet my dad was not even in the coffin – it was an empty coffin. I was kissing an empty coffin. When I think about it now it is disgusting."

She had bid her final goodbye to her father at the Hull chapel in 2022.