Legacy funeral victim told baby's ashes were animal remains

Just before her scheduled 12-week scan on April 20, 2021, Ness experienced a heartbreaking miscarriage. Following this loss, she carefully kept the ashes of her baby for three years, placing them on a shelf alongside the baby scan image. This small act reflected how much the remains meant to her.

In court proceedings, prosecutor Chris Paxton KC stated that the ashes handed to Lucy could not have come from her baby, although he did not specify that the ashes were from an animal. Despite this, Ness shared with the BBC that the police informed her the ashes were indeed animal remains. Her feelings toward Bush, associated with the funeral services, were one of clear revulsion. Ness expressed her outrage by asking, “How can somebody with a duty of care do this to my family?”

Ness and her partner, Callum Ellerby, were told their baby was cremated on May 10, 2021, without having known the baby’s gender, a fact Ness confirmed: “We didn’t know the gender. We were not going to know the gender.” The day after the supposed cremation, Bush from Legacy Independent Funeral Directors called Ness to collect the ashes, which she described as being contained in a white china urn embossed with a teddy bear.

When Humberside Police began investigating Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in March 2024, Ness reached out to the dedicated helpline for those with concerns. Subsequently, police contacted her to inform her that the ashes in her possession could not be those of her baby. Officers explained they had reviewed crematorium records and discovered that Bush collected the baby’s ashes on May 13, two days after Ness and Ellerby had received the urn. Ness revealed the emotional toll this ordeal has taken on her, saying, “I have felt very up and down. This has definitely impacted on my mental health.

Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More