Richard Elkin, 49, and Hayley Bell, 42, kept the body of an elderly men in the back room of their Elkin & Bell Funeral Directors practise, after charging his family for his cremation
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Two fraudulent funeral directors have been jailed for leading a grieving family to falsely believe their loved one had been cremated, when his body was actually being kept in their offices.
Richard Elkin, 49, and Hayley Bell, 42, kept the body of an elderly men in the back room of their Elkin & Bell Funeral Directors practise, after charging his family for his cremation.
His corpse had been left to rot in the grotty building on Nobes Avenue in Gosport, Hampshire, without a coffin for 36 days after the cremation was meant to have taken place on December 4, 2023.
In one of the first prosecutions of its kind in the UK, the couple were sentenced to four years behind bars for a string of charges on Monday – including intentionally causing a public nuisance, preventing the lawful burial of a dead body and carrying on a business with intent to defraud creditors.
The man's body was shockingly discovered by High Court bailiffs who had originally gone in to repossess the funeral directors' building on December 10, after the couple's business had amassed multiple debts and rent arrears.
When they arrived, they were met with a "pungent and unpleasant smell" and found the decomposing corpse alongside the body of another elderly man in the rear of the premises.
The bodies were surrounded by broken window glass, used coffins and water dripping from the ceiling, with of lack of refrigeration in the area in which other bodies were stored.
Police were contacted immediately and an investigation was launched, which heartbreakingly revealed that the family members of one of the deceased were tricked into believing that their loved one had already been cremated.
Elkin told officers that he had been unable to carry out the cremation because they hadn’t received the insurance payment.
However, this was proven to be untrue after investigators unearthed proof of payment to the defendants from a pre-arranged funeral plan.
Months later, Hayley Bell confirmed the couple had received the cash, but told detectives she did not "have the time" to sort the cremation.
Alongside this appalling tale, the police probe unveiled that several families had been impacted by the couple's illegal business practices.
It emerged that Elkin had displayed a forged "Certificate of Funeral Directing" in the front of their office which falsely claimed to have been issued by the National Association of Funeral Directors.
At Portsmouth Crown Court on Monday, the prosecution outlined that Elkin and Bell received money that they did not earn through the fake cremation, as they did not carry out the required services such as booking the funeral or even purchasing a coffin.
They did this because their business had long been insolvent, and the business model was a case of "robbing Peter to pay Paul".
Elkin and Bell, both of Nobes Avenue in Gosport, faced a string of charges, for which they were found guilty on all counts – including intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance, preventing the lawful and decent burial of a dead body and carrying on a business with intent to defraud creditors.
Elkin was also found guilty of making and using a false instrument with intent for it to be accepted as genuine.
Following the verdict, Assistant Chief Constable Paul Bartolomeo from Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary said: “We can all empathise with the families connected to this case.
“We have all lost someone we care about, or will in the future. When that happens, in the worst moment of our lives, we turn to trusted pillars of the community to help, to look after our loved ones, to provide care.
“Mr Elkin and Ms Bell betrayed that trust, and betrayed it in the worst way possible."
The police chief warned of similar cases across the country and called on new legislation to be implemented, rather than relying on "common law" to catch fraudulent undertakers.
“In this case, our officers turned over every stone to bring Elkin & Bell to justice using legislation that is hundreds of years old," Bartolomeo said.
"This also would not have been possible without the determination and support of our partners at the Crown Prosecution Service.
"Sadly we are aware of other similar cases across the country. We need new legislation rather than relying on common law. We also need better regulation.
“Combined this can help ensure that all funeral directors act, as the majority do, with professionalism and compassion."