The Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner is calling for immediate changes to national laws following a criminal case at Portsmouth Crown Court that saw two Gosport funeral directors jailed for mistreating the deceased. Donna Jones and Gosport MP Dame Caroline Dinenage want the government to introduce tougher rules to ensure grieving families are protected from similar neglect in the future.
On February 19, 2026, Richard Elkin and Hayley Bell were sentenced to four years in prison each at Portsmouth Crown Court. They were directors of Elkin and Bell Funerals in Gosport, where an investigation found that 46 bodies had been left to decompose in an unrefrigerated room for more than 30 days.
The room where the bodies were kept was recorded at a temperature of 11.48 degrees Celsius, which is much higher than the recommended 4 degrees Celsius. Because there are currently no specific modern laws to deal with the mistreatment of a body, police had to use older legal charges such as public nuisance to prosecute the case.
To prevent this from happening again, the local leaders are demanding a mandatory licensing scheme for all funeral directors and a regular inspection process. They are also asking the government to fully follow the recommendations of the David Fuller Inquiry, which previously suggested more oversight for the funeral and healthcare sectors.
The proposed changes include a national system to track bodies and a robust set of standards that every funeral business must follow. A public meeting for families affected by the case is expected to take place in Gosport in March 2026 to discuss these demands for reform.
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