Hundreds of mourners fear they may have been given the wrong ashes by a funeral parlour in Hull, in a case that has left locals "reeling".
A 46-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman have been arrested on suspicion of preventing a lawful and decent burial, following reports of "concern for care of the deceased" at the Hull branch of Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, said police. They have been released on bail while the investigation continues.
Earlier, police said they had been investigating a "truly horrific incident" at the funeral home. Officers removed 35 bodies from the premises, along with suspected human ashes. Since then, more than 1,000 people have phoned the dedicated police hotline with concerns about their loved ones, police said on Tuesday.
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What's happened?
Police raided and cordoned off three Legacy Independent Funeral Directors sites last Wednesday (two in Hull and one in Beverley), after receiving a report of concerns about the "storage and management processes relating to care of the deceased".
One of the premises in the village of Anlaby had been vandalised and "trashed" two days prior, one witness told The Guardian.
The 35 bodies were recovered from the Hull branch between Friday and Saturday, and have been "respectfully transported" to a mortuary in Hull for formal identification procedures, said Humberside Police. Retrieval of suspected human ashes is ongoing, along with searches of "various business premises that are linked to the suspects who were detained".
Police haven't publicly referred to any specific individuals. But The Telegraph said a grieving widow was told that her late husband's body was "in a freezer" at the funeral home rather than having been cremated as the family had believed.
A friend of a family from Beverley said they had "paid quite a bit" to have their loved one's ashes turned into crystal jewellery, and are now wondering whose remains they are wearing.
Another woman told the paper that police said her stepfather, Danny Middleton, may be one of the bodies recovered from the branch. Emma Osborne said she was given what she was told was Middleton's ashes a month ago, after Legacy carried out his funeral. The family is now waiting for the body to be formally identified. "I have no words," she told The Telegraph.
A grieving daughter told the Daily Mail of her concerns following her father's death in 2022. She said that at the time she had not been allowed to see her father's body, and now fears the worst. She wonders whether her dad was "not even in the coffin" and she was "kissing an empty coffin", which she finds "disgusting".
What is the law?
The arrested pair were held in custody on suspicion of prevention of a lawful and decent burial, which is a common law offence, "triable only on indictment", which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and/or a fine, said the CPS.
They are also suspected of fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position. They have now been released on bail.
Who has said what?
Deputy Chief Constable Dave Marshall and Assistant Chief Constable Thom McLoughlin from Humberside Police said the "lengthy" and "intricate" investigation is at a "critical" point.
That more than 120 police staff are working on the case reflects the "sheer size and scale of the investigation", they said.
A woman whose husband's cremation was organised by the funeral home told Sky News she felt "genuinely numb". "It's like being in sinking mud," Louisa Millington told the broadcaster. "I can't cry, I can't get angry… I just don't know what to think."
People are "reeling", said the MP for Hull West and Hessle, Emma Hardy. They're "incredibly shocked", with a sense of "how could this have happened".
What next?
The funeral home appeared to have had its branding removed from its branch in Beverley on Tuesday.
The shop's sign had been taken down, revealing the name of a "previous, unconnected", business, said the Daily Mirror.
The Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management has called for funeral directors to be regulated, reported The Times.
"In a sector that is unregulated and competitive, there is room for standards to slip," it said. Ministers should consider "regulation and inspection" to "ensure that bereaved people can have the reassurance they expect and deserve".
