08 April 2024 , 06:58
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A woman left heartbroken by the Legacy Funeral Directors investigation has arranged a second vigil after 35 bodies and ’suspected human ashes’ were removed from one of three branches
A second vigil is being held to allow heartbroken families affected by the Legacy Funeral Directors scandal to come together and remember their loved ones.
The firm was raided by officers last month after concerns were raised over its care of the deceased. Some 35 bodies and "suspected human ashes" were removed from one of three branches, with a man aged 46 and 23-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of fraud and preventing a proper burial. Humberside Police last week gave a major update in the investigation into Legacy after the corpses were removed from one of its branches last month.
In an announcement on Thursday, which came four weeks after officers initially zoned in on the three branches in Hull and nearby Beverley, East Yorkshire, a police chief revealed that DNA has broken down too much in the cremation process in order to identify people’s loved ones. Grieving Karen Dry, 55, was so upset by the developments that a second gathering will now be held for the affected families between 7pm and 8pm on Thursday, May 2. She helped to organise the first vigil at Pickering Park on Thursday, April 4, welcoming around 25 to 30 people.
A second vigil is being held to allow heartbroken families affected by the Legacy Funeral Directors scandal ( Image: Asadour Guzelian)
Speaking to Hull Live, she said: "I’m questioning whether I’ve got the right ashes. Legacy did the funeral of my dad in 2016 and my mum in 2019, so I’m doubting everything. It could be that I’ve got both of my parents or neither of them, I just don’t know. It’s really unfair for everyone involved. When I went past the Hessle Road premises on the Wednesday after the investigation launched, there were only about eight bunches of flowers and a teddy outside.
"I was heartbroken, because they found 35 bodies. It’s such a big number. I pulled over on the side of the road and it broke my heart, I was sobbing. I thought we needed a much bigger response, so I put a message out on Facebook to say, ’I’m going to lay some flowers tomorrow afternoon, but I really don’t want to go on my own’, so in other words, ’come on everybody’, and on the Friday afternoon the whole of the Legacy building on Hessle Road was full of flowers.
"Someone suggested I hold a vigil so I agreed. I chose the park because the vigils need to be on Hessle Road, because people’s loved ones were found there. I’ve spoken to one or two families and they said not to do it near the Legacy building, so I had to think of somewhere else. I drove up and down Hessle Road and I thought Pickering Park would be a lovely place - there’s an old fashioned bandstand under cover and I thought it was the perfect spot."
Karen said the response at the first vigil was "lovely", with around 25 to 30 people - including the the MP for Hull West and Hessle, Emma Hardy - in attendance to pay their respects. "About 25 to 30 people came out, it was a lovely response. Emma Hardy MP was the first one there, her support has been unwavering," she said.
Karen now hopes that the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, along with other government officials, will visit Hull to meet the families who have been affected by the scandal. She said: "I want people from the government to come here and meet these families. We need to make it personal, because they’re people, at the end of the day. I don’t think there are very many families left in Hull who haven’t been affected or know someone who has been affected."
As part of an update last week, Assistant Chief Constable Thom McLoughlin said extensive work continues to identify the 35 bodies recovered from the site. The officer said: "Of the more than 2,000 calls from concerned members of the public, a significant number were understandably concerned about the identification of the ashes of loved ones so that repatriation with their families can take place.
"We have been working closely with forensic scientists and specialists to assess whether it was possible to extract DNA from the human ashes in order to identify them. Whilst the expert opinion provides us with assurance that the proper cremation process had been followed, unfortunately, given the high temperature required to carry out a cremation, the DNA will have been broken down and degraded to such a level that we would not able to recover a meaningful DNA profile.
"This means that we are unable to identify any of the human ashes. This will of course by devastating news for families and loved ones and you have my heartfelt condolences at this difficult time. Our specially-trained Family Liaison Officers continue to support and update the families of the 35 deceased and we have also been in contact with a number of families regarding the ashes recovered from the premises."