Families affected by Legacy Independent Funeral Directors scandal 'forgotten'

A woman whose stepfather's body was discovered months after being told he had been cremated says families affected by a funeral business scandal "feel forgotten".

Michaela Baldwin is among hundreds of people across East Yorkshire affected by the ongoing investigation into Legacy Independent Funeral Directors.

Humberside Police descended on its base in Hessle Road, Hull, in March after they received concerns over care for the deceased.

Officers seized 35 bodies and a quantity of human ashes linked to a further 163 families in the region.

Among those bodies was Ms Baldwin's stepfather, who died in November.

The family paid for him to be cremated at Legacy's Hessle Road site.

"When it first came out that was the first thing that came to my head. He wasn’t even at his funeral - he can’t have been in that coffin," she said.

“My stepdad was a big guy - he wasn’t slim build. We even joked after (the funeral) saying it was too small - that he wasn’t in there.

“He’d just been forgotten in my eyes, that's how I see it. He’d just been put there and forgotten about."

Six months have now passed since Humberside Police launched what it described as a "complex" investigation.

A 46-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman were arrested earlier this year on suspicion of prevention of a lawful and decent burial and fraud offences.

A 54-year-old woman was later arrested on suspicion of money laundering.

All three remain on police bail.

"We’ve got to be patient but we don’t like feeling forgotten," Michaela added.

"Something has to be put in place to stop this happening again. I'd hate for other families to go through this, it's one of the worst feelings ever. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy."

The ongoing investigation had led to calls for statutory regulation of the funeral industry, which at present does not exist.

Emma Hardy MP, who represents Hull West and Haltemprice and is also a Government minister, has spoken to the Justice Minister to bring forward a consultation on regulation.

"We need to get it right, because the funeral sector at the moment there is no regulation, there is nothing. So there's no base on which to build," she said.

"That consultation process is going to be starting at some point before Christmas to begin this process. But we've said to people from the very beginning, it will take a long time because nothing has existed in the past."

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