There are few stories that affect so many people, in one city and at one time, but the Legacy funeral home scandal which has thrust Hull into the spotlight is one of them.
Hi, I’m Matt Price, a correspondent with ITV News Calendar. Our on-air, online and social teams have followed every twist and turn of this story since it first broke in March 2024.
When police entered Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, they found dozens of decomposing bodies and urns full of unidentified cremated remains.
Of course, the real victims here are the relatives who put their trust in Robert Bush. He preyed on people who were at their most vulnerable. He took their cash and promised a service, but lied.
Some relatives were given the wrong ashes – others no ashes at all. Loved ones had jewellery made from the cremated remains of what turned out to be strangers.
On arrival at his previous court hearings, Bush has always tried to avoid the cameras – changing his route into Hull Crown every day. No words, no remorse.
But as he arrived this week for his week-long sentencing hearing for 67 charges, ITV News caught him on camera apologising for the very first time. It was hardly heartfelt and you could barely hear it, but he muttered the words “I’m sorry”.
It’s a story which has rocked this city and its people. “How could one man be so heartless?” people have asked in court. We’ve heard harrowing testimony from relatives who feel cheated and betrayed.
Jasmine Beverley trusted Bush to cremate the remains of her stillborn baby Sunny. He failed her when his body was discovered in the Legacy premises.
Lucy Ness miscarried and entrusted Bush with her child’s cremation. She has since been informed the ashes likely contained animal bones.
“He could have just put them in the bin or flushed them on the toilet, which is horrible,” she told us. “But you just never know what’s come through that man’s head.”
Others took out funeral plans to avoid creating a burden when they passed. But Bush pocketed the cash leaving people high and dry. He stole from charities and conned the community.
ITV News’ Jonathan Brown on the hundreds of unregulated funeral directors
Since this all came to light there has been a call for regulation of the funeral industry. Currently, anyone can set up as a funeral director – there are stricter rules governing how cafés are managed than how the deceased are cared for. MPs, campaigners and relatives are all putting pressure on parliament for change.
Bush is now facing justice, but the families say whatever his sentence, it will not be enough. It’s a story which, as journalists, we will remember for years to come. The impact for many of the victims is lifelong.
In the words of one victim: “I hope God can forgive you Mr Bush, because I can’t.”
Funeral director Robert Bush jailed for 20 years over ashes and bodies ‘horror’
Watch the moment Robert Bush is arrested - and says he’s being victimised
Andy Burnham has said there “must be consequences” following an ITV News investigation into allegations of abuse and neglect at an award-winning care company.
The prime minister described the findings as “shocking”, and called on the care regulator to act.
ITV News uncovered allegations of physical assault, sexual abuse and drug-taking at an award-winning care company for adults with learning disabilities.
Our investigation into Blue Ribbon Healthcare Group exposed claims of staff misconduct and neglect at multiple care homes and supported living facilities across the North West of England.
Westbourne Primary in Sutton seems like any other school from the outside. But for a small number of its students, the morning lessons look different.
These children make up the school’s extra provision class - a bespoke session designed for pupils who are suspected of having special educational needs.
Of the 13 students in the group, ten are South Asian, and four of these are undiagnosed.
White British children are diagnosed with autism at more than 3.5 times the rate of South Asian children, and diagnosed with ADHD at more than four times the rate, according to exclusive data shared with ITV News.
Long before Hurricane Melissa renewed attention on Jamaica’s shores in October 2025, campaigners were warning that beaches were disappearing behind hotel developments, private land and paywalls.
One place came up more than any other: Bob Marley Beach.
It has become the focus of a dispute after a hotel group started lobbying the government to build a luxury resort here.
While some see tourism development as essential to Jamaica’s economy, others believe ordinary people are slowly losing access to one of the country’s greatest natural resources.
ITV News Digital Reporter Cree-Summer Haughton has more here.
Santa Ana is a small Spanish village of just 35 homes. Almost all of them have been gutted by the wildfires that swept through the region, just an hour away from Madrid.
ITV News Reporter Sangita Lal joined one woman who has lived there for 45 years as she was finally allowed to return home.
What she discovered, left her bereft…
Meanwhile, Science Correspondent Martin Stew reports from France where a fire four times the size of Paris is still burning.
Firefighters are working in extreme conditions, with temperatures climbing above 40C and flames whipped up by blustery winds.
Watch the full report on YouTube.
France and Spain have been battling unprecedented wildfires over the past week, forcing about 325,000 people to evacuate.
The fires are some of the most extreme Europe has suffered. Such is their intensity - fires in France have been described as atomic in their power - that they have created their own weather systems known as pyrocumulonimbus - or fire cloud.
Experts say this is the first time these massive thunderstorm clouds have been seen in France.
Víctor Resco de Dios, a lecturer in Forestry Engineering and Global Change at the University of Lleida and researcher at Agrotecnio, said: “We have entered an era of fires that cannot be extinguished. These are fires that burn with the intensity of several atomic bombs and, as such, putting them out is extremely complex.”
ITV weather presenter Becky Mantin explains what exactly is a fire cloud
Why this year’s ‘weather whiplash’ is causing so many problems
Around 1,600 illegal e-bikes have been seized by Merseyside Police as part of Operation Gears, a campaign to crack down on their use in serious crime and anti-social behaviour.
Chief Constable Rob Carden says the involvement of e-bikes in shootings is not a surprise because they can transport weapons at speed.
“They’re agile. With the packs they can be made quicker. They are easier to evade the police,” he said.
ITV News Granada has this week covered a series of stories on the growing menace of e-bikes, including:
Woman who fractured ribs in e-bike collision calls for more stringent rules
On patrol with Merseyside police as they tackle illegal e-bikes
ITV News, which has been reporting on the devastating effects of Blast Induced Traumatic Brain Injury on veterans and their families, has tested the pressure wave that scientists now believe is damaging soldiers' brains.
We witnessed testing carried out on Salisbury Plain by researchers from Cranfield University as they detonated 200 grams of military-grade plastic explosive.
In super slow motion, cameras clearly show the primary blast wave, a hemispheric wall of energy moving outwards from the seat of the explosion at the speed of sound, compressing the air in front to create a pulse of overpressure.
It is this pressure wave that scientists now believe is damaging soldiers’ brains, even when they fire their own weapons in training…
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Black Sabbath co-founder Tony Iommi is back with his first solo album in 21 years.
A little over 12 months since his bandmate Ozzy Osbourne died, Iommi opens up on life after the band's farewell, the loss of Ozzy and the music still driving him forward.
He spoke to ITV News Entertainment Editor Nina Nannar…
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From refusing treatment to violent assaults, the abuse faced by nurses comes in many forms. It is all underpinned by a rising tide of hatred towards NHS staff.
ITV London’s Ronke Phillips spoke to three hospital staff who have been assaulted, both verbally and physically, threatened and racially abused - while on shift, trying to care for people who are injured or in strife.
Watch her shocking report on ITVX.
Saturday, August 1: Pokemon GO 10th anniversary celebrations. Hundreds of players are expected to take part in the celebration event in Shoreditch, London
Tuesday, August 4: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, turns 45
Thursday, August 6: Westfield Health British Transplant Games – Sheffield. More than 1,000 organ and stem cell transplant recipients will compete across 26 different sports
Friday, August 7: Bristol International Balloon Fiesta 2026 begins, featuring more than 100 balloons taking to the skies over three days
For most of us, deciding what colour to paint the feature wall in the living room can be a tough decision.
But artist Emily Powell has decided every wall, every surface, every room is a canvas to display her work.
Everything in her Devon home has been the treatment, even light switches, the fridge and the loo.
Take a look for yourself…
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