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Funeral directors who left 46 bodies to decompose in a warm mortuary for over a month have been found guilty of denying families lawful burials.
Bailiffs visiting Elkin and Bell Funerals over debts which had spiralled to £20,000 found bodies ‘crawling with maggots’ and with ‘fly pupae’ in the bags, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.
Others had ‘extensive development of mould’ and the mortuary had a ‘horrific smell of dead bodies’ while two were stored in a room without refrigeration and with water leaking through the ceiling.
One body, found on the visit in December 2023, had been left for 36 days and was found in a badly decomposed condition while the other was that of an elderly gentleman whose family believed he had been cremated only to find his body was still at the funeral directors.
Between June 2022 and December 2023, dozens of bodies in the funeral directors’ care had been kept in an unrefrigerated room with many remaining there for more than 30 days.
Bosses Richard Elkin, 49, and Hayley Bell, 42, continued providing services despite knowing their business, which had been insolvent since 2019, could not meet its obligations.
The pair were convicted of intentionally causing a public nuisance, preventing lawful burial, and carrying on business with intent to defraud creditors. Elkin was additionally convicted of making and using a false instrument and possessing pepper spray.
They will be sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on February 19, 2026.
Rachel Robertson, District Crown Prosecutor for CPS Wessex, said: ‘They showed a grave disregard for the dignity owed to the deceased in their care and the trust placed in them by grieving families and failed to provide a proper and lawful burial for one gentleman which they were contractually obliged to do.
‘Their conduct caused serious harm to those coming into contact with their business and the families who had placed the care of deceased loved ones in their trust.
‘Today’s convictions recognise the gravity of their conduct and our thoughts remain with the families affected by the failings of Elkin and Bell.’
After 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.
‘As the jury have found they did not act in a loving, caring or compassionate way. Instead they left bodies unrefrigerated for long periods of time, causing high levels of harm to the public. We need to make sure this never happens again.’
Jurors were previously told Elkin and Bell’s firm had been insolvent ‘almost since it began in 2019’ and the business model had been so disorganised it was a case of ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’.
Elkin even displayed a forged certificate from the National Association of Funeral Directors.
The company rarely paid its bills and was ‘building up a legacy of ever-increasing and irredeemable indebtedness’, since Elkin and Bell owed over £20,000 in rent and electricity bills, it was alleged.
It was heard that the cooler system was too small for the room, meaning that the temperature could not reach its required level – especially in the summer months.
The firm also had a certificate from the National Association of Funeral Directors in the front office – which was later found to be a forgery, the jury heard.
Ms Bates said bailiffs who found the bodies ‘felt immediate concern at the circumstances in which the bodies were being kept’.
She said one phoned his manager to report what they had found at the business saying: ‘I know it’s a funeral director, but it doesn’t look right.’
The prosecutor added: ‘Water was coming in through a leak in the roof of the mortuary room, it was running down the walls.
‘The room was not refrigerated, the temperature within the mortuary room was no different to elsewhere in the premises.’
Ms Bates said that the bodies were those of William Mitchell, 87, and Clive Reynolds, and added that Mr Mitchell’s body ‘showed obvious signs of decomposition’.
The police were contacted and an officer attended the funeral parlour and the nearby address of Elkin and Bell
Ms Bates added: ‘He explained that the Police had become involved because of the circumstances in which the bodies of two deceased persons had been found within the premises.’
The court heard that Mr Mitchell’s body remained in the mortuary room for 36 days and Elkin, 49, told police that the cremation had not taken place because they had not received payment.
But Ms Bates said that Mr Mitchell had taken out a funeral plan with Golden Charter Ltd, and the defendants had been paid £2,040 to pay for the cremation.
The court heard that Bell then provided an invoice to Mr Mitchell’s sister-in-law, Patricia Mitchell, for the sum of £1,295, saying that a coffin of ‘simple design’ would be provided, while telling Golden Charter it would be ‘fully lined, oak veneered MDF coffin’.
But the court heard no coffin had actually been purchased for Mr Mitchell.
Ms Bates said that Mr Mitchell’s family ‘were incredulous’ when told by police that his body had not been cremated in the planned private cremation.
Mr Mitchell’s brother had not planned to attend the cremation – based on his brother’s wishes – but went to Portchester Crematorium to place a wreath instead.
He mistakenly believed that his body had been cremated there.
The prosecutor said: ‘In any properly managed firm of undertakers, there was no good reason, it is submitted, why the cremation of the body of William Mitchell should have been subject to any undue delay.
‘During his life, William Mitchell himself had put in place the arrangements to ensure things would be done exactly as they should be.’
The court heard that the ‘persistent, parlous financial state’ of the business impacted its proper running – before it was shut down in December 2023.
Ms Bates set out statements from several people who witnessed the scenes at the mortuary.
She said that five cases of ‘decomposed bodies’, other than that of William Mitchell, were found at Elkin and Bell’s mortuary room.
Three of the deceased – Jake Robertson, Dianne Corbett and Melvyn Marsh – died before a change of law in June 2022 – meaning they do not appear on the charge.
Two others – Patricia Williams and Michael Clements – died following after the law change – which introduced the public nuisance charge and a greater regulation on funeral workers.
The prosecutor noted that forty other bodies were stored in the mortuary room during the period between June 2022 and December 2023 and questioned what happened to those bodies.
A forensic scientist told the court Mr Mitchell’s body was ‘found to be in a greater state of decay than that of bodies exposed to lower temperatures consistent with refrigeration’.
He said the extensive development of mould was ‘strong evidence to suggest long-term exposure to a damp and mild environment’.
In a separate incident Natalie Larkin, the goddaughter of the mother of Jake Robertson, visited his body 13 days after his death and described the smell in the mortuary as ‘horrific’.
Natasha Picket, from Ruby Funerals, prepared bodies to be viewed by the bereaved.
She said regarding Mr Robertson: ‘I would describe Jake as being a state of severe decomposition. There were fly pupae in the body bag.
‘This is the worst condition of a deceased I have ever seen come in to our business.’
Ms Bates said that Elkin told police he had not been involved in the business for two years and it had been the responsibility of Bell, but she said that he had been ‘actively involved’, including collecting the body of Mr Mitchell from his home.
They said they had been aware of a problem with the roof and were waiting for the landlord to carry out repairs, and Elkin said that the refrigeration unit must have broken, the court heard.
