Robert Bush was on holiday in Arizona when a comment by Patrick Moore, a casual worker, led to the "horror scene" discovery at Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull14:39, 28 Jul 2026A funeral director, described by his victims as "pure evil", had his callous treatment of loved ones' remains uncovered after an offhanded comment by one of his workers.‌Robert Bush, of Hull-based Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, left bodies to rot for months and gave grieving families ashes that didn't belong to their loved ones, sometimes with a smile on his face. He is now facing sentencing for 67 offences spanning 12 years, with more than one hundred victim impact statements set to be heard by the court.‌The court heard on Monday how Bush’s crimes were uncovered in March 2024, when he travelled with his daughter to Arizona, USA for a holiday. He had contacted Gary Pickering and Steve Emmerson - Directors of Evergreen Funeral Directors - asking them to assist him with a body recovery whilst he was away.‌This firm then called Patrick Moore - a casual worker for Legacy who told them Mr Bush had told him in the past "not to bring anyone back to Legacy nor help put a body into the fridge area". Prosecutor Chris Paxton KC told the court: “Mr Moore believed this was due to the smells that were coming from the fridge."Mr Moore then made a comment ‘out of the blue’ about Legacy to Mr Pickering and Mr Emmerson, saying: "You don’t know the half of it, bodies have been there for years." That then “raised suspicions that operations at Legacy were not as they should be”.‌They later called Mr Moore and asked how many bodies were there, and he began counting them. Mr Moore counted up to 29 bodies, describing it as being something from a "horror scene". Mr Moore stated that he believed it was illegal and that bodies shouldn’t be kept that long. He also stated that he believed many had been there since before he started working for Robert Bush, some six to seven months previously.The court heard that Mr Emmerson and Mr Pickering then persuaded Mr Moore to allow them into Legacy, on Hessle Road, so that they could see inside the premises. Despite being initially afraid of "repercussions", Mr Moore let them in.‌“Putting it simply, they were shocked by what they saw," said Mr Paxton. "They instructed Mr Moore to inform the police, but then saw a passing police car, which they flagged down, and they spoke to PC Crosher. The officer described the witnesses as being shaken as they relayed the details to him.”The prosecutor continued: “Three police officers then attended Mr Bush’s premises at Hessle Road, where they found a large number of human bodies within a cold storage area of the premises. This room had been built into one corner of the premises and consisted of a rectangular construction, with a large sliding door at one end, four fan-driven cooling units on the opposite wall, and with racking along both sides, three racks high.‌“There were bodies stored on the racks on both sides of the room. The vast majority were uncovered and in varying states of decomposition; there was a further naked body lying on a stretcher on the floor. In addition, there was one sealed wooden coffin and four sealed cardboard coffins.“There was evidence of human putrefaction, visible on the floor, and a mop and bucket in the corner of the room, which contained further evidence of putrefaction. Many of the bodies had hospital identity bracelets on their wrists and/or ankles, some had biological hazard bracelets, while others had no identifying markers. There was also evidence of personal possessions with some of the deceased and other personal effects on the floor and on shelving.”During the search, a police officer came across a brown paper bag which contained a "tiny item". Initially, he thought it was a baby bird, but closer inspection revealed hospital wristbands wrapped around the waist which read 'Baby of Jasmine Beverley, born on 13/05/22 at 05:04'.‌This was Jasmine's son, Sunny, who was stillborn at around 18 weeks old. She had been led to believe he had been given a funeral and cremated. But in reality, his tiny remains lay on the flood of the funeral directors in what a police officer remarked resembled an evidence bag for almost two years.Hull Crown Court heard that over 12 years, Bush breached the trust placed in him by grieving families “on an almost industrial scale”, by keeping bodies for months after they should have been cremated, giving out the wrong ashes, taking money for funeral plans without making any of the arrangements and stealing charity donations collected at services.Article continues belowThe sentencing at Hull Crown Court is listed to take place over five days, and is expected to hear from more than 100 victims. Bush, formerly of Kirk Ella, East Yorkshire, but now of Otley, West Yorkshire, has been remanded in custody.