Call for Undertakers to Be Regulated as Police Remove 35 Bodies From Funeral Parlours

A police officer outside the Beckside branch of Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull, England, on March 9, 2024. Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Police say they are investigating a “truly horrific incident” and have removed the bodies of 35 people and the ashes of several others from a funeral directors in Hull.

Humberside Police said a man aged 46 and a 23-year-old woman were arrested after the public reported “concern for care of the deceased” at Legacy independent funeral directors.

Currently undertakers and funeral directors are only regulated by the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) regarding the prices they charge and there is no inspection infrastructure as there is with hospitals, schools, and care homes.

The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) has a code of conduct and regularly inspects funeral homes but it is not mandatory for undertakers to be members of it.

The chief executive of the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM), Julie Dunk, said the Hull incident highlighted the need for funeral directors to be regulated.

She said: “It is shocking to hear of the police investigation into the funeral directors in Hull. We all place such faith in those we entrust our relatives and friends to when they die.”

‘There Is Room for Standards to Slip’

“Fortunately, such incidences are rare ... However, in a sector that is unregulated and competitive, there is room for standards to slip,” added Ms. Dunk.

She said, “We would therefore urge the government to now consider some form of regulation and inspection for funeral director businesses to stop any such breaches and ensure that bereaved people can have the reassurance they expect and deserve.”

Specialist police officers are searching three of Legacy’s sites in Hull and nearby Beverley and the force says 120 detectives and civilian staff are working on the case.

Dozens of families from Hull and East Yorkshire who entrusted Legacy with the remains of their loved ones have taken to social media to express their fears.

The deputy chief constable of Humberside, David Marshall, told a press conference on Tuesday: “We are continuing to support the families involved through this extremely difficult and distressing time ... This has been a truly horrific incident.”

He said the “heartbroken families” of many people whose bodies had been entrusted with Legacy were “understandably distraught” and wanted answers, but he said it was an “extremely complex and sensitive investigation.”

“Many will be shocked, horrified, and retraumatised through grief following the disclosure of the facts of this case this week,” added Mr. Marshall.

Police Receive 1,000 Calls From Distressed Families

Assistant Chief Constable Thom Mcloughlin said they had received more than 1,000 calls from members of the public and he said, “My heart goes out to you all and I can only imagine how distressing and upsetting it will be for you and your families.”

Police outside the Hessle Road branch of Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull, England, on March 9, 2024. Danny Lawson/PA Wire

He said, “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,” added Mr. Mcloughlin.

It has now emerged that the police received a report on March 6 about the “storage and management processes relating to care of the deceased.”

They removed the bodies between March 8 and 9 and arrested the two individuals on Sunday.

The pair—who were detained on suspicion of prevention of a lawful and decent burial, fraud by false representation, and fraud by abuse of position—have both been released on bail pending further investigations by the police.

‘It’s Impacted Everybody’

Emma Hardy, the Labour MP for Hull West and Hessle, told the BBC: “Everybody’s just reeling from it. People are not quite believing that something’s happened and there are hundreds of questions, which I completely understand everybody has at the moment ... It’s impacted everybody.”

The CMA published a funerals market investigation order in 2021, which banned undertakers from “entering or conducting certain arrangements with a hospital, hospice, care home, or other similar institution which could reasonably be understood to incentivise the institution to refer customers to the funeral director or give that funeral director preference over other funeral directors.”

It also forbade them from “soliciting business through coroner and police contacts.”

In 2020 the Sunset Mesa funeral home in the United States was raised by the FBI, who stumbled across a massive body-brokering scandal.

Last year the owner of Sunset Mesa, Megan Hess, 46, was jailed for 20 years for defrauding relatives of the dead by dissecting 560 corpses and selling body parts to medical training companies without the permission of relatives.

Hess operated the funeral home in Montrose, Colorado and a body parts business, Donor Services, from the same building.

Her mother Shirley Koch, 69, was jailed for 15 years for her role.

PA Media contributed to this report.