THE former chief executive of the Captain Tom Foundation has revealed he was left “gobsmacked” after discovering the truth about the charity.
Jack Gilbert says he was shocked by the “self-interest” shown by Captain Tom’s daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and her partner Colin in the years after the heroic British Army officer’s death.
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Mr Gilbert said when he first looked into the foundation he uncovered what he described as a number of questionable practices.
It comes after Hannah, 54, and husband Colin, 67, were blasted by a report for pocketing a fortune on the back of Tom’s inspirational NHS fundraising.
A Charity Commission report found the family plunder Captain Tom’s memory for their own benefit – pocketing a £1.5million book advance then giving none to his charity.
The report revealed that Ingram-Moore, blocked from paying herself a £150,000 salary as charity CEO – took £85,000 and reimbursed her firm with £80,000 in costs from the foundation.
The couple hoodwinked the public by promising royalties to the charity from its merchandise website.
Mr Gilbert took over as chief executive for the Captain Tom Foundation from Mrs Ingram-Moore.
He ran it for just five months before it was clouded in controversy with the charity commission investigation.
The experienced charity professional has spoken out for the first time since the report came out and says he was amazed by how poorly it had been set up.
He told BBC News: “When I came in, I must admit, I was gobsmacked.
“I was shocked at the number of systems that just did not accord with best practice.
“One of my first exercises was, of course, to get trusted charity status for the foundation, which meant going through a whole range of different hurdles.
“And the fact was that although we had done many of them, there were lots of key practices that simply were not in place.”
One of the biggest issues was that management accounts had not been set up in the correct format for a charity, he said.
A cancelled invoice to Virgin Media was one of the first major issues Mr Gilbert highlighted.
In the Charity Commission report they found that Ingram-Moore was paid £18,000 for an appearance at the Virgin Media O2 Captain Tom Foundation Connector Awards.
The appearance was described as being in a personal capacity and in her own time but the commission argued this was false.
They claimed the foundation received just £2,000 of the down payment on her appearance.
Incredibly, the Ingram-Moore’s whinged they had been treated “unfairly and unjustly” by the Charity Commission, accusing the watchdog of “selective storytelling”.
Adding that there had been no misappropriation of funds from the charity at any point.
COMMENT: Captain Tom Moore would be ashamed of his daughter’s obscene greed
THE SUN SAYS…
CAPTAIN Tom Moore led a life of unblemished selflessness.
He would be ashamed of his daughter’s obscene greed.
The public-spirited World War Two veteran became a national hero during Covid by raising almost £40million for the NHS with a sponsored walk aged 99.
It earned him a knighthood, the love of millions and even a chart-topping hit.
But it was perhaps fortunate Sir Tom never lived to see Hannah Ingram-Moore and husband Colin plunder his philanthropy as a get-rich-quick scheme.
The pair sickeningly pocketed vast sums, cashing in on his memory and giving next to nothing to the charity they set up in his name, as a Charity Commission probe confirms.
Hannah paid herself a lavish salary and built a spa.
What an appalling end to the most uplifting story of that bleak Covid era.
If the Ingram-Moores have a shred of decency they will hand every last remaining Pound to the charity a duped public thought it was funding.
Mr Gilbert made it clear that if such an act had taken place then it would have been “deeply unethical”.
In general he said it felt as if there was a “level of self-interest” surrounding the foundation.
Mr Gilbert soon noted a number of other discrepancies he was as suspicious before reporting them all to the board.
He described the foundation as a “lost opportunity” to address the very real issue of ageism in Britain.
Charity Commission report
A Charity Commission report found the Ingram-Moore’s plundered the war veteran Tom’s memory for their own profit.
The 30-page booklet, published on Thursday after a two-year inquiry, found the Ingram-Moores carried out repeated instances of misconduct.
It is understood much of the funds raised were put into an illegal luxury spa in their garden using the foundation’s name.
The block was demolished earlier this year after the family lost an appeal against Central Bedfordshire Council’s order for it to be torn down.
And they gave the charity just £8,900 from a Capt Tom gin despite profits thought to be well over £100,000.
Another huge area of contention came from a £1.5million book deal.
Publishers Penguin reportedly agreed to pay a the hefty advance to the Ingram-Moores’ private company for Capt Tom’s memoir.
It was done on the understanding that a contribution would be made to his charity – but just £17,000 in royalties went to the charity.
Last year, a caught out Mrs Ingram-Moore wept as she told Piers Morgan she and her hubby pocketed £800,000 from book sales.
Penguin said: “We are extremely disappointed.”
As the Captain Tom Foundation asked for the cash back “immediately and without the need for further action”.
The watchdog’s chief executive David Holdsworth said the report found “repeated failures of governance and integrity”, and that its inquiry had been fair, balanced and independent.
He added said the foundation set up in Sir Tom’s name “has not lived up to that legacy of others before self, which is central to charity”.
How Captain Sir Tom Moore rose to fame & his daughter’s controversies
- March 2020 – D-Day veteran Captain Tom Moore walks 100 laps around his Bedfordshire garden before his 100th birthday, raising £30million for the NHS during the first lockdown.
- April 2020 – Captain Tom reaches No. 1 in the charts with his cover of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. He receives 100,000 cards for his 100th birthday, which is marked with a Battle of Britain flypast. A train is named after him.
- July 2020 – Captain Tom is knighted by the Queen in a special private ceremony at Windsor Castle.
- September 2020 – Hannah Ingram-Moore launches the Captain Tom Foundation to combat loneliness.
- December 2020 – Drones swarm into the shape of Captain Tom’s face at the New Year’s Eve firework display in London.
- February 2021 – Captain Sir Tom Moore dies after catching covid-19.
- February 2022 – The Charity Commission launches a probe into the Captain Tom foundation after it paid £50,000 to companies run by Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband Colin.
- July 2023 – The foundation stops accepting donations. Planning chiefs order Hannah to tear down an unauthorised spa at her Bedfordshire home. The building had been approved to be used “in connection with the Captain Tom Foundation and its charitable objectives”. But a larger building with a spa pool was built instead and was denied retrospective planning permission. Hannah appeals.
- September 2023 – accounts reveal Hannah received more than £70,000 to head the foundation.
- October 2023 – Hannah loses her appeal and is ordered to demolish the spa and restore the garden to its original condition.
- January 2023 – Demolition work begins
- November 2024 – Charity Commission report released
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