FAMILY’S AGONY
My nan’s coffin was splattered with blood & engulfed in mould at funeral home while I talked to her ashes on mantelpiece
The coffin looked 'as if it had been submerged in water'
A MAN says his nan's coffin was spattered with blood and "engulfed in mould" at a scandal-hit funeral home.
Tristan Essex used to talk to his gran's ashes on his mantelpiece - until cops told him they believed her body was still at the home.
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Last month officers recovered 35 bodies and some unidentified ashes from Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull.
Tristan, 24, had taken his nan Jessie Stockdale's ashes home from the parlour, keeping them on his fireplace next to her handbag.
He rang a helpline which cops set up for concerned relatives of people whose bodies had been handled by the funeral home.
Officers told him they believed Jesse's body was still in the home - and that the ashes on his fireplace could be someone else's.
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Tristan told : "We’d said it must be wrong, the ashes are there on the fireplace, they’re just sat right there.
"I’ve been talking to them as if it was my grandma and we don’t even know who’s in this ashes box."
The Hull man recalled how he was stunned by "such an unpleasant smell" when he visited the funeral home when Jessie died.
He assumed the smell was normal for a funeral parlour - but was taken aback when he saw Jessie's body.
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Tristan said: "When I saw the coffin my heart just stopped. He’d made no efforts at making her presentable.
"Her hair was wet, her face didn’t look the same, she looked so uncomfortable.
"Her head tilted forward, her fingers had gone black, the entire coffin was just engulfed in a black thick mould.
"Her coffin looked as if it had been submerged in water and it had actually soaked up the moisture.
"Then on the frills of the coffin there was blood just sprayed, clearly for everyone to see.
"She just looked poorly treated. I just left, I was speechless."
Tristan offered to give cops the ashes on his fireplace - but was told to hang onto them while DNA tests are done on the body.
A 46-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman remain on bail after being arrested on suspicion of prevention of a lawful and decent burial, fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position.
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The scandal is set to cost taxpayers around £2 million to cover issues such as second funerals.
Legacy Independent Funerals has been contacted for comment.
Inside horror funeral parlour
AS police tentatively pushed open the door to the rear of the funeral home the smell of decay hit immediately.
Inside, they found 35 decomposing bodies, some not even in freezers.
Many of the deceased’s families believed their loved ones had already been cremated in services held at Legacy Independent Funeral Directors.
They now fear the cremations never took place, after detectives told at least one family their relative’s body was still at the home — seven weeks after the funeral service.
Other families say police have requested the ashes they received for DNA testing.
The scene was so horrendous that cops had to call in a diving unit experienced in dealing with decomposing remains.
Humberside Police, which describes it as a “truly horrific incident”, also raided two other parlours belonging to the company — one in Hull and a second eight miles away in Beverley.
In what is Britain’s biggest ever probe into a funeral home, the force last night revealed they have called in Britain’s answer to the FBI.
Cops are being helped by experts and advisers from the National Crime Agency.
The agency usually deals with high-profile cases such as drug smuggling and people trafficking.
Police also revealed they had identified all 35 bodies — and informed their relatives.
The Sun understands that complaints have also been made over donations to charities collected at services.
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