A father and daughter have been found guilty of taking the bodies meant for cremation and instead storing them behind their facility, giving the grieving families nothing but wood ash for their urns.
Robert Bush of Hull, England, has been arrested and charged with 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial, 30 counts of fraud by false representation, and one count of theft from charities. He had been running a funeral home and lying to the grieving families about the remains of their deceased.
Instead of burying them or cremating them as promised, it appeared that he was instead simply storing them. It was far too expensive to burn the bodies, and so other materials were used in their place. The resulting ashes were given to the families instead of their relatives.
However, when 35 bodies as well as ashes were found at the funeral home, his cremation service was investigated. Thousands of people have been in contact with the police and taken to social media to express their concern.
Many people are now unsure if their dead relatives were ever actually cremated, or even buried.
Concerned Families After Cremation
The local police put out a statement, addressing the problem, and assuring people they will do everything they can after the cremation mix-up. However, due to the high temperatures of a cremation, it’s hard to identify a lot of the ashes.
“Unfortunately, given the high temperature required to carry out a cremation, the DNA will have broken down and degraded to such a level that we would not be able to recover a meaningful DNA profile,” Assistant Chief Constable Thom McLoughlin said in a statement.
Many local people have voiced their fears for their loved ones. “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,” one woman told The Sun.
“I just can’t sleep at all, and the family’s devastated. I’ve got her ashes at home, but is that her? I’m just sat there staring at her [urn] and wondering if she’s in there or if she’s somewhere else,” another told the BBC.