KINGSTON UPON HULL, United Kingdom (AFP) — A British funeral director faced prison Monday over a scandal that saw bodies left uncremated while relatives were handed other people’s ashes, sparking calls for better regulation of the industry.

Four of the fraud charges involved falsely presenting ashes to women as the remains of their unborn children.

An ex-employee described Robert Bush’s funeral parlour as “something from a horror scene”, prosecutor Chris Paxton said at the start of a five-day sentencing hearing.

Police who searched his premises after a tip-off found 31 bodies in a cold storage area that should have been cremated months earlier, including a stillborn baby that had been there for almost two years.

They also found more than 100 sets of ashes.

“There were bodies stored on the racks on both sides of the room,” the lawyer said at Hull Crown Court in northeast England.

“The vast majority were uncovered and in varying states of decomposition,” he added.

The 48-year-old previously pleaded guilty to 67 offences spanning 12 years and affecting hundreds of victims.

Jasmine Beverley, whose son Sunny was stillborn in May 2022, said Bush appeared “lovely” and presented himself as “very respectful”.

“It was a shock to learn what had actually been going on behind the closed doors,” she told BBC radio, adding Sunny’s remains were found in a brown envelope on the floor even though she believed he had been cremated.

“I discovered that he was still in there almost two years after we’d had the funeral,” she said, describing the discovery as “distressing”.

Beverley and her husband and a number of other families are campaigning for changes to funeral parlour regulation.

Bush, who ran Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull, was trusted by bereaved families but mistreated them on an “almost industrial scale”, Paxton said.

Police began investigating in March 2024 after being contacted by someone over concerns for “the deceased” at the business.

The sentencing hearing is to hear statements from over 100 victims.

Bush has admitted dozens of charges, including preventing lawful and decent burial, theft, and fraud.