To not understand the Hull funeral directors story?

[GameOfJones]

I've just seen an update to the news story and it sounds absolutely terrible.

35 bodies now identified at the funeral directors, some of whom have relatives that believed they had already been cremated and had been given their ashes. It sounds so upsetting.

What I can't understand is what on Earth was going on? I sort of get they may have been taking the money to cremate bodies then not actually doing so.....but then what the heck were they planning to do with the bodies they had in storage?

It can be about 2/3 weeks later in England...

And viewings aren't that common I wouldn't say, at least not at that late stage.

Another comment 're funerals in the uk. It's increasingly common that people don't go to the chapel of rest to see their.loved one.

also funerals here in the UK take place usually weeks after due to the need to complete paperwork and in case there is a Harold Shipman issue that comes to light.

increasing the direct to crem with no.service is common for people who don't want a service.

the crem workers would soon realise that there was more than one body in a casket, or no body at all. They have to move the casket in our local crem.bus

we do contact people when ashes are ready to be collected, plus we send annual reminders for those not collected....my boss doesn't want to unilaterally make a decision for the family about disposal

it does appear that these people just couldn't run the business

Either not true or the assistant coroners job is now on the line

I wondered if they were doing the council funerals that arranged for those poor people who have no next of kin and who are found dead. There wouldn't be anyone chasing up those bodies, so the FD could trouser the council payment and leave the body at the back of the freezer.

It's a very odd and sad situation all round.

They’re being vague because it’s an ongoing police investigation and they can’t report on anything that could impact that legally.

I don’t think so because all the 35 bodies there have now been identified.

An Irish wake happens before the funeral, and is traditionally to spend time with the body to see if it "wakes", I believe.

I think when people have suggested ashes have been mixed they mean that for those families where the body hadn’t actually been cremated they’ve been given someone else’s ashes to cover up the fact there are none for them.

Well known mafia tactic from the states.

It's a truly awful prospect, but I suspect this is only the beginning of the story. There may yet have to be a series of exhumations.

The rumours from the industry is that they were doing direct cremations, that's when there's no funeral, or rather taking the money and not doing the cremation/putting more than one body in a coffin or other issues. Also not adequately labelling so may be muddled.

35 in storage isn't common unless they are a big operation, my local one has 44 in currently which 5 are for my church in the next few weeks

I can only think of one reason why you'd keep dead bodies and the police clearly think whatever's happened is going to be very distressing, hence the lack of details.

It certainly does seem to be true or at least the most likely thing that's happened.

No idea about the confidentiality obligations of assistant coroners though

the crem workers would soon realise that there was more than one body in a casket, or no body at all.

I was wondering if they were holding them so that the bodies would decompose then they could put 2/3 in a coffin at once and get them cremated for one fee.

Horrible situation for those poor families.

My Grandad was brought to my Nan’s house before his funeral as my Nan was so ill she couldn’t attend. His coffin was open and placed in the front room where we all kissed him to say our goodbyes, then the casket was closed and we headed off to the funeral.

I was 14 at the time and still remember it vividly (1984).

It’s an awful situation for those poor families, can’t begin to imagine what they’re going through.

It also makes me wonder if this is just the tip of the iceberg and there are other unscrupulous funeral homes getting away with this kind of horror!

I’m in the UK and my Mum died last year. She died on the Saturday and her death was expected - in fact she lasted longer than expected. It took until Thursday for the hospital to complete the paperwork which allowed the funeral home to go and collect her, at some point we also had to make an appointment to register the death until this happened they wouldn’t book her cremation. I was with my Mum when she died and had been for most of the previous 3 days. Her funeral was just under 2 weeks from the date of her death. I went to see her at the funeral home the day before she was buried but I opted for close coffin. No one else went to visit it at the funeral home. Lots of people don’t view the body at all, a few people will do it several times. So from leaving her at the hospital I didn’t see her body again.

If that were the case, there would have been complaints from the next county.

More likely that they just didn’t book the cremations for the private services so that’s why there were bodies still in storage that shouldn’t have been there.

It’s absolutely horrific and I’m amazed there aren’t more checks around funeral directors for this to happen.

Do you get an official certificate of cremation with your ashes?

When my Dad passed away I went to see him a couple of times in the funeral home, I found it incredibly peaceful. I still can’t listen to Fields of Barley without thinking of that time as they had piped music in the room and it seemed to play on a continuous loop.

Yes. Which you will need if you’re having the ashes scattered or interred at a cemetery or churchyard. If you’re taking the ashes overseas you will also need to pay for an additional certificate.

I just find it so bizarre that a business could be run SO badly that you either can’t label a body adequately (surely card and string is enough if it comes to it) or you are getting such a backlog that it would actually be easier to cremate the bodies to make some space.

I’m still struggling to understand why there was both a backlog AND people have been given incorrect ashes. What can you even use a body that’s presumably been stored for months and months for, if they were doing it for a reason?

I went to see my dad too. I wasn’t with him when he died so I really wanted to go and see him to say goodbye and I’m so glad I did. It was a really peaceful and healing process for me.

This situation is odd and it’s only happened as they have services at their funeral director premises. That’s quite common in the US actually where they hold a service at the funeral directors. I guess this funeral directors business got into trouble not paying for the cremations and held onto the bodies. So they didn’t send empty coffins for services etc by the sounds of it, but didn’t cremate they bodies. Horrible situation for families.