Hull funeral home inquiry: Legal move to close Legacy stalls

A formal move to dissolve the funeral firm at the centre of a police inquiry could not proceed in court.

Hull Combined Court heard the process, known as a winding-up petition which was started by Hull City Council, had stalled because the council could not reach those running Legacy Independent Funeral Directors.

The company is claimed to owe the authority £40,938.08.

The case has been adjourned for a later date, which is yet to be fixed.

Two people are on bail after Humberside Police began investigating Legacy on 6 March following a "concern for the storage and management processes relating to care of the deceased" at its site on Hessle Road.

During the court hearing, solicitor advocate Paul Thompson, representing Hull City Council, said the winding-up petition could "not be served" under the insolvency rules because the council could not reach either the director or employee of the company.

"In essence there's no one from the company managing the business affairs on that basis to serve a winding-up petition," he said.

He said Legacy was "subject to intense media scrutiny following the recovery of 35 bodies from its Hessle Road premises".

Hull City Council previously said the company had "significant" unpaid debt totalling £51,508.46 for "unpaid fees and charges, including cremation fees".

Following a County Court Judgement last year, arrangements were made for the firm to repay the outstanding debt with the most recent payment made on 29 February - about a week before police started its investigation.

In total, Legacy, which was established in 2010, allegedly racked up nearly £55,000 in debt, of which £2,000 is said to be owed to East Riding of Yorkshire Council for unpaid burial fees, the BBC understands.

It is unclear how long the debt has been accumulating but both authorities have said they were trying to recover the remaining debts.

On a number of occasions between 4 January 2022 and 12 March 2024, Legacy was also given formal notices that it would be struck off from the register and would no longer legally exist, according to Companies House records.

But on four occasions Legacy was given a reprieve to have the "compulsory strike-off action" discontinued and a fifth warning was "temporarily suspended" on 19 March because the registrar received an "objection".

Few details about the police investigation have been revealed but 35 bodies and a quantity of ashes were removed from those premises and taken to another mortuary. Their families have been contacted, Humberside Police had said.

On Thursday, police said it was not possible to identify any of the cremated ashes because "the DNA will have been broken down and degraded" due to the high temperature during the cremation process.

A 46-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of prevention of a lawful and decent burial, fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position. They have since been released on bail while police inquiries continue.

Humberside Police said its dedicated helpline numbers remained open.

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