Captain Tom’s daughter and her husband were today accused of “betraying everything he stood for” as a watchdog report found they “misled” the public while pocketing £1.5million from the foundation set up in their name.
The Charity Commission concluded that Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband Colin benefited “significantly” through their association with the high-profile charity and were guilty of “repeated misconduct”.
Reacting to the damning findings, former Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker told MailOnline: ‘Captain Tom won the hearts of the nation with his selfless activity at his age and generated much admiration.
“For his family to now be accused of embezzlement is not only extremely vulgar, it is also a betrayal of everything Captain Tom stood for.”
Retired Met boss Mick Neville said of his behaviour: “I find him greedy and evil.”
Hannah Ingram-Moore pictured with her late father, Captain Tom Moore, in the garden of their home near Milton Keynes in April 2020.
Ms Ingram-Moore and her husband Colin (pictured together) were found to have benefited “significantly” through their association with the high-profile charity.
Crocodile tears: Mrs Ingram-Moore appeared last year in an interview on Talk TV
David Holdsworth, chief executive of the Charity Commission, said the public “will rightly feel misled” and criticized the Ingram-Moores for “consistently blurring the lines between the family’s private benefits and the interest of the charity.” .
“I think everyone supported Captain Tom and I think we all remember during the pandemic the smile he brought to our faces – he reminded us what can really be achieved by serving others,” he told BBC Breakfast.
The Commission confirmed that it had not forwarded the contents of its report to the police or the Crown Prosecution Service “as we have found no evidence of criminal activity”.
But Lord Foulkes of Cumnock, who sat on the House of Lords Charities Select Committee to examine the Commission’s activities, told the Mail: “It is entirely right that there is an investigation because it appears that the money that was given in good faith faith may have been misappropriated.
Ms Ingram-Moore made “false” claims about the six-figure sum she initially demanded to become chief executive of the Captain Tom Foundation (CTF).
There was also a misleading suggestion that profits from a £1.4m book deal would go to the foundation, including Captain Tom’s autobiography Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day.
The report revealed that the greedy couple had twice been invited to “rectify matters (about the book deals) by making a donation to the charity in accordance with their original intentions as understood by those involved,” but had “refused to do it”.
Mrs Ingram-Moore’s claim that she was paid £18,000 for her appearance at an awards ceremony “in her personal capacity” was also criticised, with the report claiming the money should have gone to the foundation.
Confusion over intellectual property rights for branded products, such as bottles of gin, led to potential financial losses for the charity.
The couple were also censured for citing the trust’s name in a planning application for a spa pool block at their home in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, which has since had to be demolished.
The damning 30-page report concluded that Mr and Mrs Ingram-Moore’s failings “amount to misconduct and/or mismanagement”.
The Commission had already banned Mrs Ingram-Moore, 54, from being a trustee or holding senior management positions at any charity in England and Wales for ten years, while her husband, 67, was banned for eight years. .
The CTF was formed in May 2020 to raise funds for “the values (Mrs Ingram-Moore’s) father held dear”, including loneliness and mental health.
The donations and other funds received were separate from the £38.9 million raised by Captain Tom’s Family Garden Circuits up to his 100th birthday which benefited NHS Charities Together.
The Ingram-Moores became trustees of the foundation in February 2021, one day after the death of Captain Tom, who was knighted by the late Queen.
Ms Ingram-Moore resigned from her position weeks later, just before the process to appoint her as chief executive began. Her husband remained a trustee until the Commission disqualified them in July of this year.
The home of Mrs Ingram-Moore and her husband (left) next to their unauthorized home spa (right) in their garden, which has been demolished following a planning dispute.
The watchdog opened its investigation in March 2021 and elevated it to a statutory inquiry in June 2022 over concerns about the management of the charity and its independence from Captain Tom’s family.
The couple described the investigation and their bans as trustees as a “heartbreaking and debilitating ordeal”.
But a series of public relations disasters, including a car crash TV interview with Piers Morgan, where Ms Ingram-Moore denied being offered a six-figure salary to become the foundation’s chief executive but admitted receiving £800,000 in profits from the three books his father wrote tarnished his reputation and that of the foundation.
During a planning inquiry into the family’s bid for the luxury spa in the garden of their Grade II listed seven-bedroom home, their solicitor announced the trust was to close. The commission cannot order the closure of a foundation.
The couple were later ordered to demolish the spa block and the house was put up for sale for £2.25 million in April.
Charity Commission chief executive David Holdsworth said the report had uncovered “repeated failures of governance and integrity” and that the trust had “failed to live up to the legacy of others before itself, which is fundamental for charity”.
Only 140 of the around 900,000 trustees have been disqualified since 2019, he added, demonstrating the “seriousness of the problem we found.”
The unauthorized spa pool block at Mrs Ingram-Moore’s home in Bedfordshire before and after its demolition
“The public and the law rightly expect those involved in charities to make an unambiguous distinction between their personal interests and those of the charity and the beneficiaries they are intended to serve,” Mr Holdsworth said.
‘This did not happen in the case of the Captain Tom Foundation. We found repeated cases of blurring the boundaries between private and charitable interests, in which Mr and Mrs Ingram-Moore received significant personal benefits.
“Taken together, the failures amount to misconduct and/or mismanagement.”
But the Ingram-Moores said they felt they were treated “unjustly and unfairly” and accused the commission of “selective storytelling.”
In a statement, they said: “A credible regulatory body would provide the whole truth, rather than twisting and combining facts and timelines that align with a predetermined agenda.”
“True accountability requires transparency, not selective storytelling.”
Ingram-Moore pictured with her lockdown hero father Captain Tom in April 2020
They said the investigation had had a “serious effect on the physical and mental health of our family, unfairly tarnishing our name and affecting our ability to carry on Captain Sir Tom’s legacy”.
A spokesperson for the Captain Tom Foundation said: ‘The Captain Tom Foundation is satisfied with the Charity Commission’s unequivocal conclusions about the Ingram-Moores’ misconduct.
‘We join the Charity Commission in imploring the Ingram-Moores to put things right by returning funds owed to the Foundation, so that they can be donated to deserving charities, as the late Captain Sir Tom Moore intended.
“We hope they do so immediately and without the need to take further action.”