Miscarriage victim told funeral director gave her animal ashes, not her baby’s
A grieving mother who suffered a miscarriage has told how she was informed by police that the ashes returned to her by a funeral director were likely those of an animal, not her unborn child.
Lucy Ness, 28, from Hull, said officers visited her home to deliver the devastating news. The revelation comes as Robert Bush, 48, the director of Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, faces sentencing at Hull Crown Court for 67 offences, including denying 30 people a decent burial and fraud charges related to giving families the ashes of strangers.
How did the funeral director betray a grieving mother?
Ness suffered a miscarriage just before her 12-week scan on April 20, 2021. She had kept the ashes on her shelf next to her baby scan for three years, treasuring them as the only physical remains of her lost child. But when Humberside Police launched an investigation into Legacy in March 2024, she contacted a helpline and was later told the truth.
“Police visited to tell me that the ashes that he had given me were animal remains,” Ness told the BBC. “They had sat on my shelf next to my baby scan.”
In court, prosecutor Chris Paxton KC said “the ashes that Lucy was given could not have been those of her baby,” though he did not explicitly state they were of animal origin. Ness, however, is adamant about what police told her.
What did the funeral director do with the baby’s remains?
Bush, who was arrested at Heathrow Airport after returning from a holiday in the US, had presented Ness and her partner, Callum Ellerby, with a white china urn embossed with a teddy bear on May 10, 2021, the day after the cremation was meant to have taken place. But police discovered that Bush actually collected the baby’s ashes from the crematorium on May 13, two days after he had given them the urn.
“I have felt very up and down,” Ness said. “This has definitely impacted on my mental health.”
Bush was not charged with denying Ness’s baby a burial because of the age of the fetus, a legal technicality that has sparked outrage.
Why is there no regulation of the funeral industry?
Ness has joined growing calls for regulation of the funeral industry, which remains largely self-regulated in Britain. “There is regulation with doctors, nurses, dentists... anyone with a duty of care but none applied to him,” she said. “All babies need to be recognised. A baby is a baby.”
Her case highlights a disturbing gap in British law, where funeral directors operate without the statutory oversight applied to other professions. This is a matter of basic decency and public trust.
“I am never going to know what happened to my baby,” Ness said. “He probably does not know because he has done it to so many others. But I hope my baby’s remains are with someone who loves them like I loved these.”
The case raises serious questions about the need for government intervention to protect families from such appalling abuse of trust.
Frequently asked questions about the Legacy funeral scandal
What crimes did Robert Bush commit?
Robert Bush pleaded guilty to 67 offences, including denying 30 people a decent and proper burial, fraud, and presenting families with the ashes of strangers. He is being sentenced at Hull Crown Court.
Why was the baby’s ashes not charged as a separate offence?
Prosecutors did not charge Bush with denying Lucy Ness’s baby a burial because the fetus was under 24 weeks gestation, which under current law does not qualify as a separate burial offence.
What is being done to regulate the funeral industry?
Following the Legacy scandal, there have been growing calls for statutory regulation of funeral directors in the UK, similar to that applied to doctors, nurses, and dentists. No legislation has yet been passed.