No funeral sector regulation means dead bodies can be kept in garages – inquiry

Funeral directors could work at home and keep bodies of dead people in their garages, an inquiry chairman has warned as he called for a regulator to police the sector.

Sir Jonathan Michael, who is investigating how people who have died are looked after around the country in the wake of necrophiliac killer David Fuller’s mortuary abuse, said people are “shocked” to find that funeral services are unchecked and that anyone can set themselves up as a funeral director.

The inquiry chief is calling for an independent statutory regulator to be set up for funeral directors in England to safeguard the dead as a report is due to be published on Tuesday.

Sir Jonathan said: “We need a regulatory regime that will not tolerate any form of abuse or any practices that compromise the security and dignity of the deceased.

“The funeral directors I have met in conducting this inquiry have been caring and professional. However, sadly, there are exceptions.”

He added: “The fact is that anyone can set themselves up as a funeral director. They could do it from their home and keep the bodies of the deceased in their garage without anybody being able to stop them.

“That cannot be right.”

Sir Jonathan said the new report comes following the “distressing” reports of neglect in the funeral care sector, as police are investigating allegations against a funeral directors in Hull.

Humberside Police said detectives had been working “around the clock” since concerns were raised at Legacy Independent Funeral Directors on March 8 “about the storage and management processes relating to care of the deceased at the funeral directors”.

The independent inquiry into Fuller’s crimes is reviewing how the dead are looked after in the second phase of its investigation, in settings including private mortuaries, private ambulances and the funeral sector.

The Government first launched the independent inquiry in 2021 after Fuller sexually abused the bodies of at least 101 women and girls aged between nine and 100 while employed at the now-closed Kent and Sussex Hospital and the Tunbridge Wells Hospital, in Pembury, between 2005 and 2020.

The first phase of the inquiry, looking at his employer, the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, found the former maintenance worker was able to offend for 15 years without being caught due to “serious failings” at the hospitals he worked at.

Published: 15/10/2024 by Radio NewsHub