Controversial past of the funeral parlour at the centre of a police investigation

The building at the centre of a police probe that has left a Yorkshire city reeling is no stranger to controversy.

Legacy Independent Funeral Directors is being investigated by Humberside Police after the force received a report of concern for the deceased. Since then, 35 bodies, and what police believe is a “quantity of human ashes”, have been recovered from its Hessle Road branch in Hull.

A 46-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman who had been arrested on suspicion of prevention of a lawful and decent burial and fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position have been bailed.

Read more: ‘What of those already buried? Are they in the right graves? We just don’t know…’

Grieving families have been left reeling over the investigation, and on Tuesday, Humberside Police said it had received over 1,000 phone calls from the public. A dedicated helpline has been set up for anyone who is worried and would like to speak about Legacy as police continue to make efforts to identify the bodies.

One woman told YorkshireLive she feared her father was not in the grave she thought he was, and earlier this week, Cassie Long said she is “sick” to her stomach after hearing about the investigation. She said her dad, Kevin David Long, was moved from the business’ branch in Anlaby Road to Hessle Road before she noticed he was not in the coffin that had been paid for.

She said: “We were in our most vulnerable state… We just wanted it all to be over and for him to be at peace.”

A look through Companies House reveals that Legacy’s accounts were long overdue, and the company had received five warnings of a strike-off, which would see it dissolved. A First Gazette notice was published on Tuesday announcing plans for a compulsory strike-off the register.

Documents show the company was incorporated in October 2010, with the director named as a Robert James Bush, a funeral director. The address of the business was changed a number of times and is now registered as 730 Anlaby Road.

A total exemption full accounts document listed on Companies House on January 3, 2019, showed the company made a gross profit of £14,500 in the year up to April 5 2018. A year later, on January 7, 2020, a micro company accounts document showed in the year up to April 5 2019, it made a turnover of £130,055 compared to £142,555 the year before.

A year later, the turnover was shown to decrease to £98,014. It was the same year Legacy was given a Covid business support grant of £40,000.

Documents showed the turnover then decreased a year later to £64,020, before increasing again in the year 2022 to £74,450. The accounts are overdue, but documents show that between the years 2021 and 2022, records on the micro company accounts show a drop in the cost of materials for the company from £31,595 to just £7,452.

The latest entry on Companies House is a notice for compulsory strike-off.

Legacy’s Hessle Road branch is home to what was once a funeral parlour embroiled in controversy. Heavenly Services was known throughout the city for its cheap and cheerful packages before – not unlike Legacy – becoming the centre of a police investigation.

An investigation was launched back in November 2021, but it was dropped in light of the director Simon Woolston’s death. Humberside Police say the investigations are not linked and a spokeswoman added: “An investigation was carried out in November 2021 after we received reports from members of the public regarding the fraudulent use of monies intended for pre-paid funeral plans through the company Heavenly Services.

“Heavenly Services operated at the same premise on Hessle Road, Hull, as a separate company, Legacy Funeral Directors, who we received a report of concern about the storage and management processes relating to care of the deceased in these locations. This report was received March 6, and whilst we are in the early stages of our enquiries, at this stage we do not believe the two investigations to be connected.”

Those who used Heavenly Services for their loved ones have spoken out about their protocol following this week’s news – with one woman telling YorkshireLive she does not think her uncle is buried where he was supposed to be.

Barbie Leigh Taylor’s uncle died in 2018 and the family used Heavenly Services to plan his funeral. She said not only was the wake double-booked and rearranged two weeks later, but another person’s name was at the foot of his coffin when family members went to see him in the Chapel of Rest.

Ms Taylor said she was also told her uncle could not be buried until a full payment was made. She said: “Before they got his body they were nice as pie, but once they had it, that was it.”

She said on one occasion the family went to see him and added: “My cousin was sat at the front and we were trying to get him dressed – she started crying and I said ‘calm down’ and looked and it said ‘Joe’ at the bottom instead…”

Ms Taylor said as part of the package, a wake at the Vauxhall Tavern was arranged, but this was double booked and could not take place until two weeks later. She also said that her mother had given her uncle’s wallet to be buried with him, but was handed it back.

Ms Taylor said she now believes her uncle is not buried where he is supposed to be. She said: “I have always said he is not down there. I doesn’t feel like it’s him.”

She added that funeral directors “need to be regulated.” She said: “My instinct was, ‘Is one of those bodies my uncle’s? The police say Heavenly Services has nothing to do with this.”

Ms Taylor was not the first customer of Heavenly Services to speak out – with one woman claiming in 2021 that her dad’s ashes had been “held hostage.”

Mikala Hill told HullLive she was still waiting for the company to release her dad’s ashes, two years after his death, and said she had received a voicemail instructing her to collect them, or risk them being put into storage. Another woman, Sonya Smith, said in October 2021 she had been told to get her partner “picked up” from the funeral directors as they were no longer able to do his funeral service.

In February 2019, a grieving mum claimed the company had “cashed in” on her son’s death when it used a photograph of balloons being released on the day of his funeral as a promotional post on Facebook. Chantalle Greaves’ son Kai Brown’s funeral had not even been arranged by Heavenly Services.

The company also faced fury after it paid to have an advertisement put up outside Hull Royal Infirmary, in a move that was branded “insensitive.” A spokesman said at the time that while it acknowledged the advert was a “controversial decision,” it was placed strategically and intentionally next to the hospital in order to offer discounted services to those who may be worrying about dying or the death of their loved ones.

Hull City councillor Shane McMurry said at the time: “They wouldn’t dream of handing out flyers on the wards to family and friends of the seriously ill so why do they think it’s acceptable to do this?”.

Employees of the company themselves came under fire, and at least two lost their jobs. Convicted wedding fraudster Dana Twidale was sacked from her job at Heavenly Services after telling her ex-boyfriend that her late mum’s body was rotting in the parlour. Mr Woolston said at the time: “I told Dana that I couldn’t be having anything to do with her.

“She told this chap Nigel that her mum was in with us and that she had been dead for four months rotting and that she couldn’t afford to pay for her funeral. I went to see her mum on Friday and she was alive and she was sobbing her heart out. When I found that out I didn’t want her to have anything to do with us. It’s not right.”

In March 2019, Rebecca Dawn McHugh was also sacked by the company after it emerged she had left animals to die. McHugh was handed a lifetime ban on owning animals after investigators from the RSPCA were called to her shop, Hull Pets and Garden in Beverley Road – almost five months after she shut up shop.

Bearded dragons, a corn snake, a leopard gecko and a Tegu Lizard had been left behind.

MP for Hull West and Hessle Emma Hardy has called on the government to regulate funeral directors following the investigation into Legacy.

In a statement, she said: “Following the deeply unsettling revelations surrounding Legacy Funeral Directors, it emerged that funeral directors are unregulated and there is no system of statutory licensing or inspections in place.

“Having spoken to government ministers, I am now calling for the process of bringing all funeral directors under a regulatory system to begin without delay, starting with a consultation. This would be the first step in ensuring that what has happened at Legacy will never be repeated.”

A direct telephone line has been set up by Humberside Police for anyone who is worried or would like to speak about Legacy. The number to call is 0800 051 4674, or 0207 126 7619 if anyone is calling from abroad. You can also access the Major Incident Portal by clicking here.

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