THE DAUGHTER OF Captain Sir Tom Moore has admitted her family kept profits from three books he had written.
Captain Tom Moore became a well-known figure when he raised £38 million (€44 m) for the UK’s NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday at the height of the first national Covid-19 lockdown in April 2020.
He died in February 2021.
In an interview being broadcast this evening, his daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore told TalkTV’s Piers Morgan that Tom Moore wanted them to get the book profits.
The Sun reported the profits were £800,000 (€926,000).
Ingram-Moore told Morgan that her campaigner father wanted his family to keep the money from the three books in Club Nook Ltd — a firm separate to the Captain Tom Foundation charity, The Sun reported.
The newspaper states that she said: “These were my father’s books, and it was honestly such a joy for him to write them, but they were his books.
“He had an agent and they worked on that deal, and his wishes were that that money would sit in Club Nook, and in the end…”
Morgan asked “for you to keep?” and she replied “yes”, the paper states.
The family reportedly told TalkTV there was no suggestion that anyone buying the books thought they were donating to charity.
In a clip released ahead of the interview, Ingram-Moore said the family had even received death threats.
She said: “There is a forum… they were all discussing how they were going to come and kill us all.”
Captain Tom had his knighthood conferred on him by the late queen Elizabeth in July 2020 in recognition of his fundraising achievements.
Ingram-Moore also reportedly told TalkTV she was paid £18,000 (€20,850) for attending the Virgin Media O2 Captain Tom Foundation Connector Awards in 2021 — when already being paid as chief executive of the body.
The money was paid to her family firm, Maytrix Group, and she banked £16,000 (€18,530), donating £2,000 (€2,300) to the Captain Tom Foundation, The Sun reported.
The Charity Commission launched an inquiry into the foundation in June last year, after identifying concerns about the charity’s management and independence from Moore’s family.
It had already opened a case into the charity shortly after the 100-year-old died in 2021, and began reviewing the set-up of the organisation.
The watchdog’s intervention into the foundation had a “massive adverse impact” on fundraising, the charity’s accounts published last month stated.
The foundation’s accounts show that for the nine months from August 2021 to April 2022, Ingram-Moore, received a gross salary of £63,750 (€73,840) in her role as interim chief executive officer.
The Charity Commission had consented to an annual salary of £85,000 (€90,000).
She also received £7,602 (€8,805) in expense payments for travel and administration between June 2021 and November 2022.
This summer, the foundation stopped taking money from donors after planning chiefs at Central Bedfordshire Council ordered that an unauthorised spa pool block at Ingram-Moore’s home should be demolished.
The PA news agency has approached the Charity Commission for comment.
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