Leeds babies funeral scandal victims praise Government's announcement on regulation

Health Secretary Yvette Cooper announced that Labour would bring in “proper regulation of the funeral sector”, after disgraced Hull undertaker Robert Bush was jailed for 20 years.

Leeds families, who have been campaigning after their babies’ bodies were kept at a funeral director’s house, have praised the Government for pledging to regulate the industry, saying it will mean no one else would have to through their “mental torture”.

Health Secretary Yvette Cooper announced that Labour would bring in “proper regulation of the funeral sector”, after disgraced Hull undertaker Robert Bush was jailed for 20 years.

The 48-year-old breached his customers’ trust “on an industrial scale” for 12 years by hoarding bodies for months, giving relatives the wrong ashes, selling fake funeral plans and stealing charity donations collected at his services.

On Friday, he was jailed for two decades by a judge who said he had “never known offences affect so many people so deeply”.

In Leeds, Zoe Ward, from Bramley, and Cody and Liam Townend, from Farnley, have been campaigning for greater regulation after the bodies of their babies were kept at the house of funeral director Aime Upton, the founder of Florrie's Army.

Ms Ward’s baby Bleu was just three weeks old when he died of a brain haemorrhage at Leeds General Infirmary in 2021.

She asked Florrie’s Army to arrange the funeral, but told The Yorkshire Post that when she went to Ms Upton’s house to see Bleu who was “in a bouncy chair on the floor”.

The 33-year-old claimed there was the body of another baby on the sofa. She said the scene left her “really angry”.

Four years later, the Townends had a similar experience. Their daughter Macie-Mae was stillborn in January 2025, and they chose to use Florrie’s Army for the funeral.

But Ms Townend, 26, said that Ms Upton kept her baby’s body next to her on the sofa.

They changed funeral directors and informed the police about the situation, but officers said they could not investigate.

West Yorkshire Police said they had probed the business, but after “extensive inquiries” had not identified any possible crimes.

Ms Upton claimed the police “found no wrong doing and stated my work was excellent”.

She has since been banned from entering any NHS mortuaries and maternity wards in Leeds

Ms Ward said she had faith in the government to fully regulate the industry, saying: “It won’t change what happened to Bleu, but it will stop it happening to anyone else.

“The mental torture that I go through daily, it stops that from happening to anybody.”

The Townends said funeral directors should have to be DBS checked, and also have random hygiene inspections by the local council.

The parents also want babies to retain their rights even after they die.

Leeds South West and Morley MP, Mark Sewards, who has been campaigning alongside the parents, said: “Many people simply assume funeral directors are already regulated. It is shocking that this is not the case.

“I welcome the Government’s commitment to developing these proposals, but the result must be full statutory regulation. We now need to see the detail, a clear timetable, and confirmation of who will enforce the rules and what powers they will have when standards are not met.

“Bereaved families deserve peace of mind that their loved ones will be treated properly.

“Good funeral operators deserve a system that protects the reputation of their profession.”

He added: “What happened to Cody, Liam and Zoe, and to the victims of Robert Bush, should never happen to anyone again.”

Ms Upton has denied Ms Ward and the Townends’ version of events.

In a statement to The Yorkshire Post, she said: “The police found no wrong doing, stated that my work was excellent and advised me to carry on my spectacular work.

“Not just the average policeman but the CID. They didn’t just say that there’s no criminal offences committed because of no regulations."