Undertaker jailed in UK for 'dreadful' practices

LONDON:

A British funeral director was jailed for 20 years on Friday for "dreadful" conditions at his parlour including bodies stored on racks for months in an "undignified manner" and relatives handed other people's ashes.

Robert Bush ran his funeral parlour in Hull in northeastern England for over 12 years, offending on an "industrial scale" and causing "anguish and pain on a scale beyond comprehension", judge Nicholas Hilliard said.

The 48-year-old undertaker was also accused of stealing thousands of pounds in donations to 12 charities that were collected at his funeral services. He pleaded guilty to 67 offences and will serve at least half of his sentence before being eligible for parole.