Funeral director who kept 30 bodies - why??

[ShockingFence]

I've read the article on BBC and I am none of the the wiser as to why he kept hold of 30 bodies?
Apparently he had money problems - so was it simply to avoid the cost of cremation? Is it that simple?

Isn't that really old news?

Think he’s been sentenced today

I agree. I can’t see what was in it for him? What motivated him to do it ? Dreadful story and awful for the families, but why did he do it ?

I'm not sure. I think it was purely money motivated- as in he took money for pre paid funeral plans and when a person died, he had spent the money and was therefore unable to pay their cremation costs.

Because he was charging the families thousands for funeral services including coffins, saying he would oversee the cremation after the service and return the ashes. As is normal.

But he was reusing coffins (made by himself to save on costs) sticking the bodies in cold storage after the funeral instead of paying cremation fees, and giving the grieving families random ashes that he’d stockpiled.

Absolutely disgraceful behaviour and I hope he gets a decent jail sentence.

Money. He sold funeral plans fraudulently, stole donations, took things that people were supposed to be buried with. Took money for cremations which then didn't take place.

What was he doing with all the spare bodies? Sticking 2 or 3 in each coffin? Or hadn't he been at it long enough to be a problem? Or renting extra cold storage?

35 (?) unburied bodies and lots of ashes as in more than 100. Local MP said one body just had a plastic sheet over and name written in biro. Basically, he was spending a lot living the high life and not paying for what he should have. Apparently he also took money which should have gone to charities, as in the money donated at funerals. I don't know if he had extra cold storage. It's old news in the sense that we've heard about it before but today he pleaded guilty in court.

It was to make money. What a vile creature.

Think he held the funeral services at the premises with a view to then move body to the crem, the body to the crem didn't happen and he kept the money families paid.

Awful for those involved, he was obviously well out of his depth

When this story broke I assumed it was a naive person whose business had spun out of control but actually the evidence makes it sound very calculated. The situation is so macabre; it’s hard to comprehend that anyone could live with it.

He’s been found guilty yesterday. Sentencing is in a few months.

There was a really interesting even worse case in America where a crematorium owner dumped bodies in the acres of land that his crematorium sat on. Stretching back years and years. They found hundreds of bodies in the woods. Very good podcast on it called Noble. In that case they never really got to the bottom of why he had never cremated the bodies but they thought laziness. I think in the Hull case it was greed, taking money and not spending it on the actual cremation.

I wonder what his ‘get out’ plan was? What was he going to keep doing with all the bodies? Surely he’d run out of space in the end.

This is what I wondered! What was his end game? Or perhaps he didn't have one which is why he got caught!

I think someone whistleblew which is how he got caught. No idea what his end game plan was though unless he was hoping to cram two bodies (if skinny enough) in one coffin and halve his cremation fees?

I heard the report on R4 news at 6 last night. My conclusion was that he was that he had no regard for the dead or their families at all. He only cared about his money making scheme and his lifestyle. A sociopath to have lied repeatedly like that. The warehouse he used was not cold storage at all. I can't work out how he had enough human ashes to give families ashes when their loved one hadn't been cremated. Half a tonne of ashes were in that warehouse. He had a complete disregard for anyone apart from himself. An absolute lowlife. The people who attended that warehouse found a horrific scene nevermind what all those families have been through. Thank goodness for the whistleblower.

I suspect the sentence will be the very highest possible and deprivation of his assets, including his big detached house.

I don’t know if I’m being daft but I can understand how you could cover up a cremation but how would you do this with a burial? The article mentioned burials and cremations. Surely the plot needs to be purchased and people would be visiting so how on earth did he get round that?

With the half a ton of ashes, did he keep some back from each cremation so he could give ashes to other families where he still had the body? That sounds like a huge amount of ashes

Maybe offering direct cremation at a lower cost? Sorry, that didn't answer the question at all. Tell people you know don't have the funds for a headstone that a plot is where their loved one is buried and tell someone else the same thing? Soore than one family thinks they have the same plot?

What was he going to do with the bodies he had stockpiled?

He must have been stockpiling ashes for a long time to end up with half a ton, presumably keeping some back from each cremation to then give to other people's relatives at a later date, charging them for a cremation but not actually sending the body to the crem.

And all for money to fund his lifestyle and his collection of motorbikes.

I saw the police tribute to the deceased last night which was very moving.

What a despicable man. The things people will do for money.

Some ashes may just not have been collected by families for a long period of time. I think it happens. They're supposed to keep them until they're collected, but if it's been a while then I guess he felt safe handing them to someone else.