Source : Perth Now news
WARNING: GRAPHIC DETAILS
Two funeral directors have been jailed after 46 corpses were found rotting in a warm mortuary — some crawling with maggots and lying in their own fluids.
Richard Elkin and Hayley Bell left bodies decomposing for weeks at their mortuary in Gosport in Hampshire in the UK as grieving families were told cremations had taken place.
One elderly man was left without a coffin for 36 days. His family even laid a wreath at Portchester Crematorium in the mistaken belief he had been cremated.
In reality, his body was still at Elkin And Bell Funerals.
Portsmouth Crown Court heard how some victims were discovered shedding skin, covered in maggots and stored in an unrefrigerated room where water leaked through the ceiling.
The temperature inside one mortuary room was recorded at 11.48C — far above the recommended 4C for bodies kept longer than 48 hours.
Between June 2022 and December 2023, the pair kept 46 bodies in such conditions, many for more than 30 days.
High Court enforcement agents, sent to repossess the premises over unpaid debts, made the grim discovery of two decomposing elderly men.
Thirteen devastated relatives gave statements to the court.
One son described carrying his mother’s “icy coffin” and seeing her body in a state of decomposition.
“I saw it with my own eyes and smelt it in the air,” he said.
“It is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life. This has meant I have never and doubt I will ever grieve the loss of my mother.”
A mother who entrusted Bell — a friend of 23 years — with her baby boy, who died 11 minutes after birth, told the court that she was denied the chance to hold him because his casket was sealed shut.
“A mother’s last right to hold her baby was forever taken away,” she said.
“I’m so disappointed I ever knew you.”
The business had been investigated in 2021 and issued improvement notices but the Elkin, 49, and Bell, 42, bought an unsuitable refrigeration unit on eBay instead of properly fixing the problem.
Following a trial, they were convicted of intentionally causing a public nuisance, preventing lawful burial and trading with intent to defraud creditors.
Elkin was also convicted of making and using a false instrument and possessing pepper spray.
Both were jailed for four years and banned from acting as company directors for seven years.
Andrew Eddy, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said the pair had “abused their position of trust” and “robbed many of their one chance to say goodbye with dignity”.
“Their actions were deliberate and caused deep emotional harm to dozens of families,” he said.
