July 31 (UPI) — A funeral director in Hull, England, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for failing to bury or cremate the bodies of his clients and stealing money raised for charities.

Robert Bush, 48, was sentenced Friday on 67 charges that occurred 12 years at Legacy Independent Funeral Directors.

Bush kept bodies for months after they should have been cremated, gave out the wrong ashes to families, took money for funeral plans without making the arrangements and stole charity donations collected at funeral services, The Independent reported.

Police were called to the funeral home’s Hessle Road business in March 2024 and found 35 bodies and more than 100 sets of ashes.

There were 31 bodies that should have been cremated months earlier, including a stillborn child that had been there for nearly two years on the floor in a paper bag.

Jasmine Beverley, mother of the baby, Sunny Beverley-Conlin, spoke after the sentencing.

“He’s picked on the poor people, the people that haven’t been able to afford the £4,000 [$5,300] funerals,” the BBC reported Beverley as saying. “That’s what he’s done, so he can go on holidays and buy nice things, while we’re struggling to pay his funeral costs.”

She said that “the evil that he committed against so many people” will stay with her for life.

In April, Bush pleaded guilty to 30 counts of preventing lawful and decent burial and theft from 12 charities including the Salvation Army and a cancer support agency. He had admitted to four “fetus allegations,” in which he gave ashes to grieving mothers telling them that they were “the remains of their unborn.”

He also pleaded guilty to another charge of fraud for the ashes of 57 people between 2017 and 2024, and one charge of fraudulent trading for funeral plans between 2012 and 2024.

“No sentence was ever going to fully reflect the pain and suffering that has been caused or provide complete justice for the families involved,” said Member of Parliament Emma Hardy, who represents many of the victims, the BBC reported.

“However, this sentence of 20 years goes some way towards recognizing the seriousness of these crimes and the profound impact they have had on so many people.”

Judge Nicholas Hilliard asked for the reading of a detailed list of Bush’s spending.

“I think people who have lost their money will want to know what it went on,” he said.

Bush spent $5,100 on a trip to Italy; $8,600 to Center Parks, an outdoor experience company; and $4,000 on a trip to Arizona with his daughter. His crimes were discovered while he was in Arizona. He spent about $13,000 on retail goods, including $4,500 on restaurants.

Between 2017 and 2024, about $2 million was transferred from the funeral home’s business accounts to Bush’s personal banking accounts, prosecutor Steven Ball said.

The National Association of Funeral Directors told the BBC it had “no knowledge” Bush was operating the funeral home. His membership in the organization lapsed in 2020.

“We did not inspect Legacy, we had no knowledge he was operating at that premises because he moved the business without telling us. We haven’t ever had eyes inside the horrific scene that the victims have experienced,” CEO Andrew Judd said.