14 March 2024 , 15:13
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Dozens of bunches of flowers and messages have been left outside a funeral directors in Hull where police removed 35 bodies and suspected human ashes in a raid.
Humberside Police were alerted to Legacy Independent Funeral Directors last week relating to "concern for care of the deceased". Cordons remain in place at the company's branches on Hessle Road and Anlaby Road in Hull, and in Beverley. Police said a "quantity of what we suspect to be human ashes" was also removed from the former site.
The Anlaby Road branch has since been boarded up, with its hanging baskets torn down and now on the floor, in a suspected vandalism attack. The same branch removed its branding from its storefront, which revealed the former signage of the unrelated, old Time & Motion shop, that closed in 2018. A 46-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of prevention of a lawful and decent burial, fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position. They have since been released on bail while the investigation continues.
One message left at the scene wishes the families "peace and comfort" and the "courage to go on". Another reads simply: "RIP You beautiful souls." More than 120 police staff are working on the case, while family and friends have made over 1,000 calls to a special phone line - with many desperate for answers. There are fears allegations against the funeral parlour could go back 13 years.
Among those affected is Louisa Millington who arranged her husband Carl's cremation through Legacy after he died last November aged 42. She told Sky News: "It's like being in sinking mud to be honest. It's like, although I've lost Carl, I just feel like I'm still trudging, just waking up for another day, and another day, and you're still waiting to find out what's going on."
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A cordon remains in place outside the premises (PA)
One message left at the scene wishes the families 'peace and comfort' and the 'courage to go on' (PA)An unnamed widow has also told how she'd had what she thought were her husband's ashes turned into jewellery before being told following the raid her husband's body was found in a freezer nine months on.
The man's daughter and granddaughter have also been wearing jewellery they believed had been made from his "ashes", and are now distraught to learn it may not even be their loved one. A friend of the family said the police told the widow her husband could only have been frozen "under the direction of the coroner".
Speaking to the Times, the widow's friend said: "The widow is distraught. The family thought they had his remains, and are now asking ‘if it’s not him, then who is it?’ They are now grieving again, they have lost that closure that a funeral gives you. His widow has now been told by the police that she will have to go and identify the body of her dead husband – imagine that!”
A boarded up door and hanging baskets torn down at the Anlaby Road branch (HullLive/MEN)Humberside ACC McLoughlin encouraged anyone worried about the care of their late relatives to come forward, telling a press conference on Tuesday: “The dedicated phone line remains open and thus far we have received over 1,000 calls from concerned members of the public since Friday.”
“I would encourage anyone who has concerns about the service they have received from Legacy Independent Funeral Directors that have not yet contacted us to please contact us on the dedicated helpline.” Other Legacy customers include Billie-Jo Suffill, 33, who lost her dad Andy Suffill, 52, just a few days after her brother in July 2022. She says she "never received" her dad's ashes.
Officers removed 35 bodies from the funeral directors' freezers (Hull Live / MEN Media)The mum-of-three said: "I never actually got to see my dad’s body. I bet my dad was not even in the coffin - it was an empty coffin. I was kissing an empty coffin. When I think about it now it is disgusting. I got ashes after my brother’s funeral. But now I don’t even know if they are his ashes and I never got any from my dad."
Earlier this week another mourner told the Telegraph she had been told by police her stepfather might be one of the bodies recovered. The family were given what they were told were his ashes several weeks ago. There are fears allegations against the funeral parlour could go back 13 years.