20 years - Dodgy Funeral director

[Highway Man]

Another strange thing was when I was on call and coming and going in the small hours I would often see him in his garage, I assumed he was working on one of his bikes but at 3am etc it seemed a bit obsessive. I am now wondering if that was what he was doing.

 

[motorbiking]

Agreed, I have always thought that they should share some respnsibility. They charge the funeral directors £500 per cremation and was refusing to do any more for him as he had run up a 50k debt with them. The surprising thing to me was where did he think this would all end. He kept storing bodies then when his fridges were full he left them to decompose naturally which suggests to me that he was planning on grinding up the skeletons that would have been left.

I was more thinking about the fact they never chased up on the missing paperwork (point 9).

Another strange thing was when I was on call and coming and going in the small hours I would often see him in his garage, I assumed he was working on one of his bikes but at 3am etc it seemed a bit obsessive. I am now wondering if that was what he was doing.

One thing for sure - he wasn't disposing of bodies

 

[motorbiking]

it looks like he was at it from day 1

 

[noseall]

he was planning on grinding up the skeletons

Fi fy fo fum.

Would it not have been simpler for him to dump them into The Humber?

 

[motorbiking]

Sentencing guidelines have gotten harsher.

If you look at what the judge wrote, he kinda had to make them up

 

[motorbiking]

"...In one particularly distressing case, the remains of a baby were left in a brown paper bag on the floor for nearly two years after they died...."

Lordy.

point 25 on in the report - a really sad read.

 

[Highway Man]

One thing for sure - he wasn't disposing of bodies

I get your point but it makes you wonder, all of the neighbours are saying the same too. You never know he might have been having a clear out before this all came to light.

 

[IT Minion]

If you look at what the judge wrote, he kinda had to make them up

I'm reading it now, it's probably a good thing there isn't enough examples of this sort of case to give precedent or well tested sentencing guidelines.

 

[noseall]

point 25 on in the report - a really sad read.

Jeezus. The greedy scumbag must be numb from the head down.

 

[Highway Man]

He came across as a really decent guy, his whole family were well respected in the village.. I thought it must be a big business for him to be living down our street, I can now see how he was funding his life style, he often showed me his racing motorcycles and had some really expensive and quite rare Ducati racing bikes which he was obviously proud of. I don't know if they are still in his garages or if the police have ceased them,

 

[IT Minion]

If you look at what the judge wrote, he kinda had to make them up

Im confused by some of it, the best example he had to work with said that between 18 months and 6 years as a starting point is appropriate each of the first 30 charges.

Then he says that 19 years for a single instance, presumably it's quadrupled because he used the same severity grading from the (many) fraud charges.

I haven't read enough of these judgements to know if it's sensible or not but based on what little I know it feels like it the judge might have gone over the top and the court of appeals will be weighing in.

 

[motorbiking]

The judge went with a sort of hybrid approach, because they were in theory a mix of single and separate offences..

more info here https://sentencingcouncil.org.uk/latest/totality-explained/

 

[IT Minion]

The judge went with a sort of hybrid approach, because they were in theory a mix of single and separate offences..

more info here https://sentencingcouncil.org.uk/latest/totality-explained/

That makes sense, to paraphrase my understanding is:

While each individual case would merit, for example, 2-3 years and typically these would be served concurrently the fact that there were 30 of them means the severity was so great that it merited making the single preventing lawful burial charge he will serve time for was 19 years (minus discount) instead.

To me the wording isnt as clear as it could be from the judge but that might be due to technical terms.