Two funeral directors have been jailed for four years after a decomposing body was found in their mortuary.
Richard Elkin, 49, and Hayley Bell, 42, who ran Elkin and Bell Funerals in Gosport, Hampshire, were both convicted of preventing the decent burial of a body and fraud offences following a trial at Portsmouth Crown Court last year.
During the trial, Lesley Bates KC, prosecuting, said that the bodies of two elderly men were found by High Court enforcement agents who had been sent to repossess the premises because of unpaid rent and debts.
She said that the room was not refrigerated and water was coming in through a leak in the roof of the mortuary room, and the body of one of the men, 87-year-old William Mitchell, “showed obvious signs of decomposition”.
Ms Bates told the jury that there had been five other known cases of “badly decomposed” bodies kept in the mortuary room of Elkin and Bell.
Police told how the room was in a “state of disarray” with broken windows, water dripping from the ceiling and a “pungent and unpleasant smell”.
The family to one of the deceased had been told their loved one had already been cremated – despite lying in situ for 36 days.
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Elkin initially said they had been unable to cremate the body because they were waiting on an insurance payment.
Bell later told police she had received the payment but “did not have time” to arrange the cremation.
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Elkin and Bell were found guilty of causing public nuisance between 27 June 2022 and 11 December 2023, preventing lawful burial of a dead body between 3 November 2023 and 11 December 2023, and carrying on a business fraudulently between 10 August 2022 and 11 December 2023.
Elkin was also convicted of the forgery of a certificate of funeral directing and using it as a false certificate on or before 10 December 2023, and illegal possession of pepper spray.
They both appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court on Thursday 19 February for sentencing, where they were both sentenced to four years in prison.
They were also both disqualified from acting as directors for any company for a period of seven years.
One family member of the deceased told how the pair had “exploited the industry and preyed on families at their most vulnerable.”
One mother, who had been Bell’s friend for 23 years, told how the memory of her son is now “muddied and connected to the mistreatment he received.”
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Elkin even hurled abuse at one man as he read out his victim impact statement – before being hauled down to the cells by court staff.
Passing sentence, His Honour Judge James Newton-Price KC said that during the offending period there were more than 40 bodies in Elkin and Bell’s care, and he highlighted the “serious, profound and enduring distress” caused to families by the defendants’ actions.
He said: “No sentence can be a reflection of the value and the worth of the bodies neglected whilst in the care of Elkin and Bell.”
Speaking after the case, Assistant Chief Constable Tony Rowlinson said it was “one of the worst betrayals I have ever seen in my policing career.”
