Hull Funeral Directors Inquiry

[naomi24]

//Two people have been bailed as officers removed 35 bodies and a quantity of ashes from a funeral director in Hull, police have said.

 

 

At a press conference, Humberside Police said it was a "horrific incident", traumatising families.

 

They also said that they had received more than 1,000 phone calls about it from the public since Friday.

 

And they added that specialist and forensic teams were searching at "business premises linked to the suspects".//

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-68542986

 

This is bizarre.  What on earth is going on here?

 

 

[barry1010]

I can't imagine but I've read that one family had the ashes of their loved one but the body has been identified as one stored unrefrigerated and moved to the public morgue during the investigation.

Wrong bodies buried and cremated, wrong ashes returned to families. 

Not using the coffins paid for.

Not storing bodies properly.

I believe they have their own crematoria so maybe they were accepting bodies from these cheap direct to crem provides and got overwhelmed 

[barry1010]

There is nothing odd about a funeral director having lots of ashes on the premises.  So many just aren't collected despite reminders.

After a long period they are usually scattered at the crematorium 

[naomi24]

But keeping bodies?

[youngmafbog]

I expect it will all boil down to cold hard cash in the end.

Not the first time, wont be the last.

Evil scum doing this to the dead.

[Smowball]

Omg imagining collecting your loved ones ashes, having them either scattered, or kept at your home, only to find that the ashes you have are for a completely different person!

[retrocop]

I reckon,through greed, they took on more than they could handle. One old granny's corpse was not even refridgerated, probably due to lack of space, and was decomposing.

I have seen for myself the disrespect that some undertakers have for the dead when in the mortuary of St Mary's Hospital Harrow Road. As a young man,then,I never thought that the deceased could be thrown around like carcases of animal meat in this so called civilised society.

[andres]

They should be investigated for removal of a dead persons organs ??

[retrocop]

andres. A good point. There is a market in other countries for human organs. I don't think Muslims would market the organs of people of their own faith as their bodies must be buried next day but a bent undertaker in this country?? Now that's a thought.

[naomi24]

I don't think these people are Muslims, Retro.

[Barmaid]

I don't think they had their own crematorium.  I think that they were providing "direct" type cremations, so the family would have a short service in their chapel of rest and then the remains would be taken to the local crematorium shortly thereafter.  They often taken 3 or 4 at once (as I understand) and they are cremated at the beginning or end of the day (when there are no other cremations going on).  It looks as if they were not taking them to the crematorium though (and thus avoiding paying the fee).

Those poor families.  That must be so distressing.

[lankeela]

I have never understood the need to have ashes returned - especially not for animals.  I prefer to remember people and animals as they were.  I have also never visited a grave of anyone in my family, rather go to my dad's favourite pub and have a pint to remember him.  

[naomi24]

// It looks as if they were not taking them to the crematorium //

 

What did they intend to do with them?  They couldn't leave them lying there rotting forever.  

[Barmaid]

I am not sure that human organs thing is likely.  Organs have to be harvested asap after death and kept very precisely else they start decomposition very quickly.

[naomi24]

^I think that's right.

[andres]

Israel in 2009----Pathologists admitted harvesting organs of dead Palestinians in the 90s. without permission of relatives.

[ferlew]

This is the 2nd time a funeral directors have been called into question in Hull. My sister lives in Hull and prepaid her and her husband's funeral. The company went bust (I think) and before the owner could be charged with anything - he caught Covid and died from it.

[andres]

If it is a direct cremation the body could go straight to the crematorium.  

[Barmaid]

I imagine it got out of hand a bit and that's how they got discovered.  35 bodies for one funeral director does seem an awful lot.  My guess is that they ran into financial difficulties and were always playing "catch up".  Ie, using fees from a recent instruction to pay for a previous instruction.  Of course that only works if no funeral is required.

I don't know.  I am just guessing.  But it sounds truly awful for those who were bereaved.

[Lie-in King]

Utterly appalling.  I feel for the bereaved families & friends involved, the whole business must be so distressing.

[barry1010]

The crematorium aims to burn the body shortly after the service but that doesn't happen in reality.  When the service happens late in the day the body is often left until next morning.

There is never more than one coffin in a cremator, that is the law.  A body can take up to three hours to burn, there is usually one service per hour so there can be a backlog.