Relatives speak of torment amid probe into alleged funeral directors scandal

Grieving relatives have spoken of their torment after police received more than 1,000 calls as part of an alleged scandal at a funeral directors.

Legacy Independent Funeral Directors is the subject of an investigation after officers recovered 35 bodies and suspected human ashes from the Hull-based firm.

Some “heartbroken” family members have spoken of their concerns following the probe, with one woman saying she believed she kissed an empty coffin at her father’s funeral.

Deputy Chief Constable Dave Marshall, of Humberside Police, told reporters the force was investigating a “truly horrific incident” during a press conference on Tuesday.

Police previously arrested a 46-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman on suspicion of prevention of a lawful and decent burial, fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position.

The pair have been released on bail pending further inquiries.

Flowers continued to be laid at the site on Hessle Road on Wednesday morning after families from Hull and East Yorkshire took to social media to express their concerns over what may have happened to their relatives’ bodies.

Billie-Jo Suffill, a mother of three from Hull, said she felt “physically sick” after not receiving her father’s ashes.

The 33-year-old lost 52-year-old Andrew Suffill in July 2022, and her brother Dwane Suffill, 34, five days later.

She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “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, it is disgusting.

“It’s like something out of a horror movie.

“I wonder if this will stop at 35 bodies. I think my dad is one of them.”

A friend of a widow told The Times newspaper the body of her late husband, which was supposed to have been cremated, was discovered in the firm’s freezers eight months later.

The newspaper said three generations of the family had been wearing jewellery they believed had been made from his ashes.

The family friend said: “The widow is distraught.

“The family thought they had his remains and are now asking, ‘If it’s not him, then who is it?’

“They are now grieving again, they have lost that closure that a funeral gives you.”

Another man, Martin Stone, told the BBC he had been contacted by police, who said his mother Susan Stone’s cremation never went ahead.

Mr Stone told the broadcaster the firm said the family could pick up her ashes within a couple of weeks.

He said: “If I had collected her, I’d have had somebody else’s ashes, it wouldn’t have been my mum.”

Police remained at the firm’s Hessle Road site on Wednesday and flowers had been left in front of the shuttered doors of the premises with messages such as “RIP you beautiful souls”.

The force confirmed more than 120 police and civilian staff were working on the case on Tuesday.

Officers cordoned off three Legacy Independent Funeral Directors sites after the force received a report on Wednesday of concerns about the “storage and management processes relating to care of the deceased”.

The bodies were removed between Friday morning and Saturday evening, the force said.

Formal identification is taking place at Hull’s city mortuary.

Legacy Independent Funeral Directors is owned by Robert Bush, according to Companies House.

Mr Marshall said it was an “extremely complex and sensitive investigation”, and pledged to put the “heartbroken families” at the core of the inquiry.

He said: “Many will be shocked, horrified and retraumatised through grief following the disclosure of the facts of this case this week.”

Providing an update on the investigation on Tuesday, Assistant Chief Constable Thom McLoughlin told reporters: “We have now recovered a total of 35 deceased who have now been respectfully transported to the mortuary in Hull and formal identification procedures are now taking place.

“In addition, we have also recovered a quantity of what we suspect to be human ashes.

“We are in the process of carefully recovering all of those ashes and taking those to the mortuary.”

The Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM), which provides training for those working within the bereavement services, called for funeral directors to be regulated after the probe was announced.