NEED TO KNOW
- A British mother has spoken out after her the body of her stillborn son was discovered new BBC Investigation found that a mother was left “screaming” after allegedly discovering a funeral director had put her dead son in a baby bouncer at a property in Yorkshire, England
- Jasmine Beverley revealed to the BBC that police told her nearly two years after her son’s death that she had been given a stranger’s ashes
- “I am trying to forgive him,” Beverley told the outlet of the mortician involved
A mother is speaking out after the body of her stillborn baby was discovered nearly two years after she held a funeral for her late child.
Jasmine Beverley held a funeral service for her son, Sunny Beverley-Conlin, in the city of Hull in England in June 2022 after giving birth prematurely that May, according to the BBC.
Police later found the body of her son still at the Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, which has since closed.
On Wednesday, Oct. 15, Robert Bush appeared at Hull Crown Court where he entered both guilty and not guilty pleas to the offenses he is charged with in connection to the investigation into the Hull funeral home, Humberside Police said in a news release shared on Facebook.
Robert Bush is pictured at Hull Magistrates’ Court in June 2025.
Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty
Bush pleaded guilty to 35 counts of fraud by false representation, one of which related to Beverley’s family, according to the BBC. He’s now facing a trial on other charges in October 2026.
“I am trying to forgive him,” Beverley told the BBC, adding, “But I am finding it hard, there must be some reason why he did this.”
She said Sunny’s June 2022 funeral, which had been held in an on-site chapel at Legacy’s headquarters, was “beautiful.”
The family was then given an urn of ashes, before they were told by police nearly two years later, in March 2024, that they’d been handed the remains of a stranger, who hadn’t yet been identified, per the outlet.
Beverley — who said she polished the urn daily — and her husband, Ben Conlin, have since returned the ashes to police.
She said, “Whoever was in there, was loved like they were my own baby,” per the BBC.
Flowers and tributes are left outside Legacy Funeral Directors in Hull, England.
Ryan Jenkinson/Story Picture Agency/Shutterstock
Bush has admitted giving three other women ashes they believed to be the remains of their unborn babies, the outlet reported, adding that Sunny had been the only stillborn baby discovered at the funeral director’s premises.
Beverley was told Sunny’s body had been found while she was expecting their fifth child, admitting it “ruined” the final months of her pregnancy and she’d suffered from depression, sometimes having suicidal thoughts, the BBC reported.
The family has since held a second funeral for Sunny, who has been laid to rest alongside his great-grandparents.
Beverley — who said she’s “happy” that Sunny “is finally home” — insisted she felt “mixed emotions” when asked about Bush’s guilty plea regarding her family, stating that other families were having to still play “a waiting game” before next year’s trial, per the outlet.
A police car is parked near a hearse outside Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull, England in March 2024.
PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty
Humberside Police confirmed in their release that Bush had been charged and pleaded guilty to: 30 counts of “preventing a lawful and decent burial in relation to the recovery of the deceased from the premise on Hessle Road between April 2023 and March 2024,” as well as one count of “theft from charities between 1 September, 2017 and 6 March, 2023.”
According to the BBC, the latter referred to one charge of stealing money from charity collection boxes.
He was charged and pleaded guilty to, as read out in court: 30 counts of “fraud by false representation in relation to the deceased recovered at the Hessle Road premise who should have been cremated, and their families advised they had been and provided with ashes between April 2023 and March 2024,” as well as one count of “fraudulent trading in relation to funeral plans between 23 May, 2012 and 6 March, 2024.”
Bush was also charged and pleaded guilty to one count of “fraud by false representation in relation to either families provided with ashes of their loved ones, with ashes identified as their loved one later found at the premise, or families not receiving any ashes at all between August 2017 and March 2024,” and four counts of “fraud by false representation in relation to ashes provided to families following loss in pregnancy, with one of the unborn being recovered from the premises.”
“These families were provided with ashes between August 2017 and March 2024,” police said of the latter charges, per the Facebook post.
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Police added of Bush, “He has been bailed from court with conditions until his trial at Sheffield Crown Court on Monday, 5 October 2026 for the [offenses] he has pleaded not guilty to.”
“We are unable to provide any further details or information at this time to ensure judicial proceedings are not [jeopardized],” the release read.
“Further comment will be made available on conclusion of all court hearings, at which time the [offenses] he has pleaded guilty to will also be dealt with,” police stated.
PEOPLE was unable to contact Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, due to them being closed. Humberside Police said they weren’t able to confirm details of Beverley’s BBC interview when contacted by PEOPLE, as it wasn’t conducted by them.
