FUNERAL directors left a rotting body in an un-cooled and leaky mortuary for over one month after not buying a coffin, a court heard.
Richard Elkin, 49, and Hayley Bell, 42, have been accused of public nuisance, preventing lawful burial of a dead body and fraud.
Bosses of Elkin and Bell Funerals, the pair allegedly left an elderly man in a mortuary room with water dripping down its walls.
Jurors were told their firm had become insolvent “almost since it began in 2019”.
Their business model was also accused of being a extremely disorganised, to the point it was a case of “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.
Portsmouth Crown Court heard the funeral home, based in Gosport, Hampshire, saw bodies “crawling with maggots”.
Jurors were also told of “fly pupae” littered in bags around the premises, which had a “horrific smell of dead bodies”.
The corpses allegedly had “extensive development of mould”.
The company allegedly rarely paid its bills and was “building up a legacy of ever-increasing and irredeemable indebtedness”.
They are said to have owed over £20,000 in rent and electricity bills alone.
The funeral home’s cooler system was not big enough to cater for the whole room – leading to unsuitable temperatures, the court also heard.
The firm even had a certificate from the National Association of Funeral Directors in its front office – but this was later found to be a fake, jurors heard.
Lesley Bates KC, prosecuting, told the jury that the bodies of two elderly men were found on December 10 2023 by High Court enforcement agents who had been tasked with repossessing the premises because of unpaid rent and debts.
Bates claimed agents “felt immediate concern at the circumstances in which the bodies were being kept”.
She said the bodies were those of William Mitchell, 87, and Clive Reynolds – adding that 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.
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 Mitchell’s body remained in the mortuary room for 36 days.
Elkin then told police that the cremation had not taken place because they had not received payment.
But Bates said 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 Mitchell’s sister-in-law, Patricia Mitchell, for the sum of £1,295, saying that a coffin of “simple design” would be provided.
They allegedly told Golden Charter it would be “fully lined, oak veneered MDF coffin”.
But no coffin had actually been purchased for Mitchell, the court heard.
Bates said that Mitchell’s family were “incredulous” when told by cops that his body had not been cremated in the planned private cremation.
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 jury also heard there had been five previous reports of “badly decomposed” bodies at the premises dating back to July 2021.
Bates claimed: “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.”
Bates said Elkin told police he had not been involved in the business for two years and it had been the responsibility of Bell.
But the prosecutor said that he had been “actively involved”, including collecting the body of 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.
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 June 28, 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.
They form part of the prosecution case and their condition was noticed when taken to hospital for examination.
Williams’ body was described as “putrid, slimy” with “maggots present”.
The undertaker who collected Corbett’s body to be taken to hospital described a washing up bowl placed underneath it to catch “body fluids” – which was “full to the brim”.
Bates said there were more than 40 other bodies stored at the funeral directors between June 28, 2022 and December 10, 2023 which were not seen at hospital.
Bates said that the funeral directors were previously investigated by the Gosport Environmental Health Partnership in August 2021 following a complaint by the family of Robertson
Elkin and Bell were charged in November 2024 with ‘serious and broad-ranging criminal wrongdoing in relation to their undertaker business’.
The defendants denied intentionally causing public nuisance between June 27 2022 and December 11 2023, preventing lawful burial of a dead body between November 3 2023 and December 11 2023, and carrying on a business fraudulently between August 10 2022 and December 11 2023.
Elkin is also accused of using a false certificate of funeral directing on or before December 10 2023.
The trial continues.
