34 bodies moved from funeral home by police

[DrJoanAllenby]

This sounds horrendous.

https://news.sky.com/story/man-and-woman-arrested-after-34-bodies-were-moved-by-police-from-funeral-director-13092104?fbclid=IwAR3VpSwxkaCKWvb7U3APBTuMXvq5ZRD-htvvO3VJBPnGQzb6EKD5EobNJ00aemAXCo9AsWsN7prAlQiNwrV8gBXDDnByZQvpSQsusIws3RVyyVhTFVAMWAsEnFe_1bJUk

i think it’s straightforward to tell whether they are human or not, as if you look at the fine particles it’s obvious to people in the business who know what they’re looking at. Getting enough dna from the tiny bits of bone to do forensic identification I understand is possible but very difficult and depends on the quality of the remains. I think it’s mostly done for people who’ve died in fires but I’d assume that professional cremation is so thorough that they would be very little left to test.

It's awful, to think you had your husband cremated and had his ashes made into jewellery and then be told he's still in the freezer, 8 months later.
I can't imagine what there going through, evil people the funeral home owners.

I don't understand what could be gained not cremating bodies? Taking peoples money and not going through with the cremations, then getting rid off the bodies another way.

Both my parents were cremated, one a direct cremation. I had jewellery made from their ashes. My neighbour a few months later quite insensitively said when she lost her husband, she didn't get the ashes back as didn't believe you got the right ashes back.

I don't understand what could be gained not cremating bodies? Taking peoples money and not going through with the cremations, then getting rid off the bodies another way.

If they charge £1500 for a direct cremation and have to pay the crem £800 (for example) for actually cremating the body they make £700 profit. If they don't use the crem then it's £1500 profit.

Yes, but what are they actually going to DO with them?

Horrendous case, I feel very sorry for all involved.

I know there's no way of telling. We have to put so much trust into the whole funeral service.

Slightly OT but it's even got me thinking about our pets ashes. We paid a lot more to get out individual dog ashes back. How do we know they're his and they didn't just throw him in the communal cremator with all the other dogs? :(

So many questions...

Well quite, that's the scary part. Were they just hoarding/freezing them hoping to cross that bridge when they came to it? Were they doubling bodies up at funerals/in coffins? Were they planning on disposing of them via burying them in the woods?

It has just made me think that if you were a serial killer being a funeral director would be a useful cover. Not that I think these guys were serial killers at all.

Sorry for insensitive question, but how much electricity does it cost to cremate someone as opposed to the running costs of a freezer?

It has been revealed they were in financial difficulty so would the lower cost to keep them on ice until the financial difficulty had passed have been their agenda?

I get the impression from local gossip that the owners of the business are just not very good business people. Apparently local crematoria stopped working with them due to unpaid bills and they’ve been using one further away. The further away one then stopped due too the same reason. I don’t think it’s nefarious or they had a sinister plan. I don’t think they had any plan at all.

Awful isn't it. As if grieving isn't bad enough

Sounds like they were pocketing the money and not cremating the bodies. The ashes could have been from their log burner for all we know. It’s despicable.

Crematoria in this country are run very well. I know someone who trained to lead funeral services and as part of the training they were given a tour behind the scenes and shown how the process works. This was specifically so she could reassure the bereaved on questions like what happens to the body and are the ashes really their beloved. The part of the chain from when the deceased arrives at the crematoria to when the ashes leave are tightly controlled and we can have faith in that part at least.

It was the police who came and did the raid at 3am

Wait, you thought the only other option besides direct cremation, is for you to watch him being cremated??? No! The usual practice is for a funeral service with the coffin and then you all say goodbye as you walk out of the chapel and then collect their ashes from the funeral home a few days later!

I can't find the link now but there was an article of a poor woman whose husband had passed away - she had his ashes made into jewellery which she has been wearing for the last year.

She's just had a phone call from the police to say that they have her husbands body from this funeral home.

Imagine the anguish.

I'm local to the area.

So it seems that they have been doing direct cremations but not cremating the body. The bodies removed were from 1 premises.

Also, another funeral director went to the funeral home, he was the one who alerted the police.

@SpringtimeBunny

The bodies are never burned as they travel down out of sight during a cremation service.
It can be days later as they will do several at the same time.
The coffin will also comprise part of the Ashes.

Check for smoke plumage next time you are wandering through a cemetery with a crematorium.

It's amazing that it has been going on for so long and noone has blown the whistle before now

I suspect their credit has run out with the crematoria and they have massive unpaid bills. It's probably that simple, idiocy rather than supercrime. But awful for the families involved. My sympathy to all.

Then they should have stopped taking bodies. When they keep taking bodies knowing they cannot cremate, then it’s crime. The police are correct. And when they provide someone else’s ashes, it’s crime. Again the police are correct. The moment they take bodies they can’t dispose of and start giving fake ashes, then it’s fraud and preventing a proper funeral. And there are 35 people impacted here,

It tips into something more than idiocy at the point when you find yourself first considering handing a family fake ashes.

The business depends on trust from the bereaved families and when you’re grieving you’re not likely to be in a position to start asking lots of questions.

A badly run funeral directors with bills piling up is not like another business, Id have thought you can’t go on panicking and covering up too long without someone else noticing and reporting. I think the longest I’ve heard is potentially a deceased from 8 months ago has been found in their premises. Wonder if it will tie in from when the local crematoria stopped working with them.

Is there any form of regulatory body who inspect funeral directors? Or is it a self regulated industry?

That’s what I’ve heard locally, and they’ve been using another one further away which has recently stopped working with them too. I agree it’s cock-up not conspiracy. Dreadful for the families though.

All the more reason to see your loved one safely to the curtain. I hate crematoria, mostly because the architecture is usually so depressing. I wouldn't want a service in one. But I'd trust a publicly run service. So if the kids deliver me to the crematorium and leave, then inter the ashes later, that's fine. But then, that's long been my plan.

I know it's just one funeral parlour, but I have a feeling this case will impact direct cremation uptake.

People need to be made aware of the process and there needs more regulation over the system and then direct cremations are fine. They are needed as full funerals are eye wateringly expensive for some.

I was given crem paperwork and ashes for my late Mum and had to sign for them. I didn't appreciate why at the time but do now. I think this needs to be made much clearer and any body taken for direct cremation given a bar code or something and the body followed through to disposal and ashes return. So, at any point, a Govenment department can tell where a body is!

I meant other people involved in the business, not the bereaved families, it's almost unbelievable that only two people could have been running the operation with no other help at all. Posters have mentioned as hoc "staff" being called upon to help with funerals.