A judge in Colorado has rejected a plea deal for a funeral home owner accused of storing nearly 190 decomposing bodies in a bug-infested building, after relatives of the deceased argued the proposed 15 to 20-year sentence was far too lenient.

State district judge Eric Bentley said the proposed sentence "did not adequately reflect the harm caused by these offences", taking the unusual step of rejecting a plea agreement reached between prosecutors and the defence.

Carie Hallford and her husband, Jon Hallford, ran the Return to Nature Funeral Home.

They are accused of leaving dozens of bodies to decompose between 2019 and 2023 in a building in Penrose, Colorado, around 103 miles south of Denver, while giving families fake ashes.

In court on Monday, multiple family members opposed the plea

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