The bosses of a funeral directors failed to buy a coffin for an elderly man and left his decomposing body in an uncooled mortuary room with water dripping down the walls, a court has heard.
Richard Elkin, 49, and Hayley Bell, 42, who ran Elkin and Bell Funerals in Gosport, Hampshire, are on trial at Portsmouth Crown Court accused of public nuisance, preventing lawful burial of a dead body and fraud.
Lesley Bates KC, prosecuting, told the jury that the bodies of two elderly men were found on 10 December 2023 by High Court enforcement agents who had been tasked with repossessing the premises because of unpaid rent and debts.
She said the bodies were those of William Mitchell, 87, and Clive Reynolds, and explained that Mr Mitchell’s body “showed obvious signs of decomposition”.
The jury was also told that there had been five previous reports of “badly decomposed” bodies at the premises dating back to July 2021.
Ms Bates said: “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.”
The trial of Richard Elkin, 49, and Hayley Bell, 42, is taking place at Portsmouth Crown Court. Credit: PA
The court heard that Mr Mitchell’s body remained in the mortuary room for 36 days and Mr Elkin 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 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”, when no coffin had actually been purchased for Mr Mitchell.
Ms Bates said Mr Mitchell’s family “were incredulous” when told by police that his body had not been cremated in the planned private cremation, and had even placed a wreath at Portchester Crematorium in the “mistaken belief that his body had been cremated there”.
She 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.”
Ms Bates said that Mr Elkin told police he had not been involved in the business for two years and it had been the responsibility of Ms Bell, but the prosecutor 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 Mr Elkin said that the refrigeration unit must have broken, the court heard.
Ms Bates said the funeral directors had been insolvent “almost since it began in 2019” and its “business model was a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul”.
She said the company owed £13,440 in rent arrears and £8,567 for electricity.
The court was told that there was a ”wilful neglect of bodies” at the home which was run in a dishonest and fraudulent way. Credit: PA
Ms Bates told the jury that three of the previous cases of decomposed bodies found at the premises – those of Jake Robertson, Diane Corbett and Melvyn Marsh – date from before 28 June 2022 which is the earliest date that the crime of public nuisance came into force.
The other two affected bodies were those of Patricia Williams who died in June 2023 and Michael Clements, who died in July 2023, and form part of the prosecution case and their condition was noticed when taken to hospital for a precautionary post-mortem examination.
Ms Bates said there were more than 40 other bodies stored at the funeral directors between 28 June 2022 and 10 December 2023 which were not seen at hospital.
She said: “Bearing in mind the condition of the bodies they did see, what happened to these others?”
Ms Bates said that the funeral directors was previously investigated by the Gosport Environmental Health Partnership in August 2021 following a complaint by the family of Mr Robertson.
Natalie Larkin, the goddaughter of the mother of Mr Robertson, had visited the premises on 30 July and said: “I could smell that smell of dead bodies before I even got to the door. When I went in the smell was worse. I would describe it as being horrific.”
The family then removed Mr Robertson’s body and transferred it to another funeral directors, Ruby Funerals.
The environmental health officers issued improvement notices on Mr Elkin and Ms Bell to make the mortuary “fit for purpose” which Ms Bates said the defendants initially complied with.
This involved improving the refrigeration in the mortuary which they did by purchasing a cooler on eBay which was unsuitable because of the size of the room, Ms Bates said.
The defendants deny intentionally causing public nuisance between June 2022 and 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.
Mr Elkin is also accused of using a false certificate of funeral directing on or before 10 December 2023.
The trial continues.
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know…
