LONDON (AP) — A British funeral director was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday after the judge heard emotional testimony about how he gave families the wrong ashes for their cremated loved ones, improperly retained corpses for months and stole charity donations collected at memorial services.Robert Bush, 48, was sentenced at Hull Crown Court in northeastern England after a five-day hearing in which more than 200 victims described the devastating impact of his crimes. He previously pleaded guilty to 67 charges related to crimes that took place over 12 years at Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull.Among those who spoke in court was Jasmine Beverley, whose son Sunny was stillborn on May 13, 2022. Investigators found his ashes in a brown paper bag on the floor of the funeral director’s premises more than a year after Bush handed her a little blue coffin and told her Sunny’s ashes were inside.
“When I discovered what had happened, it reopened that trauma in a way I cannot fully describe,” Beverley said, recalling the pain of losing her child.“It felt like being pulled back into the darkest time of my life. The grief, anxiety and distress returned with such intensity that I again found myself struggling mentally and emotionally.”About 50 people learned they had been given the wrong ashes for their loved ones when police raided the funeral home and found urns and packaging labeled with their names.
