- Robert Bush, a funeral director, has been jailed for 20 years for hoarding bodies, giving bereaved families incorrect ashes, and defrauding customers over a 12-year period.
- His offences, described as being "on an almost industrial scale," included leaving decomposing bodies in non-refrigerated conditions and mixing up ashes, causing widespread distress among victims.
- Bush was found to have sold fake funeral plans to 226 people, pocketing over half a million pounds, and stole donations from 12 charities.
- The judge stated that Bush was motivated by "financial greed" and exhibited "dishonesty, deception and heartlessness" towards the deceased and their relatives.
- The investigation uncovered a ‘horror scene’ of 31 bodies that should have been cremated months earlier, and identified 57 families who received wrong or no ashes, with many more left uncertain about their loved ones' remains.
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