A woman whose husband’s cremation was organised by the funeral home at the centre of a major police investigation has told Sky News she feels “genuinely numb”.
Earlier, police said they were investigating a “truly horrific incident” at the Legacy Independent Funeral Directors.
Investigators have discovered suspected human ashes just days after recovering 35 bodies from the Hull-based business.
Louisa Millington arranged her husband Carl’s cremation at the funeral parlour after he died last November at the age of 42.
Louisa Millington
She told Sky News: “It’s like being in sinking mud to be honest.
“It’s like, although I’ve lost Carl, I just feel like I’m still trudging, just waking up for another day, and another day, and you’re still waiting to find out what’s going on.
“I can’t cry, I can’t get angry. I just genuinely feel numb. I just don’t know what to think. I just really don’t know.”
There is currently uncertainty in the community around who may have been affected by the case.
Police have asked people to ‘refrain from speculation’ about what may have happened
Emma Hardy, MP for Hull West and Hessle, said: “I think people are reeling at the moment.
“I think they’ve been feeling incredibly shocked… Utterly shocked that something’s happened.
“We don’t have the answers to all the questions people have at the moment.
“People are reeling, they’re upset, they’re shocked, they’re hurt and it’s just the sense of how could this have happened and how could this have happened in our community.”
Two people – a man aged 46 and a woman aged 23 – were arrested on suspicion of prevention of a lawful and decent burial, fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position.
They have since been released on bail with conditions while the investigation continues.
Humberside Police said more than 120 staff from the force were working on the case, which reflects “the sheer size and scale of the investigation”.
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In an update on Tuesday afternoon, Deputy Chief Constable Dave Marshall and Assistant Chief Constable Thom McLoughlin said they were pursuing “extensive lines of enquiry” in a “lengthy” and “intricate” investigation.
They said they had received 1,000 calls of concern regarding the case.
Police have raided all three of the business’s branches – two in Hull and one in Beverley – after concerns were raised about “storage and management processes relating to care of the deceased”.