Capt Sir Tom Moore’s daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, and her husband, Colin, have been disqualified from being charity trustees amid a continuing investigation into the foundation set up in his name, the family has said.
The Captain Tom Moore Foundation was launched in May 2020 after the war veteran’s fundraising efforts, which raised £38.9m for NHS charities during the Covid pandemic. But the Charity Commission opened a case into the organisation shortly after his death in 2021 and launched an inquiry in June 2022 to investigate concerns about its management and its independence from his family.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Ingram-Moore family said the inquiry had not concluded, but that they had been served with an order of disqualification as trustees.
“The commission’s failure to conclude the inquiry prolongs our deep distress and hinders our ability to move on with our lives, extending the pain and impact on our family and our father/grandfather’s legacy. It has been a harrowing and debilitating ordeal that has gone on for over two years,” the statement said.
“We are increasingly concerned that the Charity Commission’s process may have evolved into a relentless pursuit, and question whether it is a tactic by the commission to make our lives more difficult, by suspending us in constant fear and mental anguish.
“The orders of disqualification do not state that Hannah Ingram-Moore or Colin Ingram-Moore have misappropriated or received unauthorised payments from the charity’s funds, including public donations. We have never accessed or made any payments from the charity’s bank account.”
The statement said that they had been notified that they had until 25 June to appeal against the disqualification order, otherwise they would appear on the register of removed persons. Despite their “vehement objections” to the order, they said they had “made the extremely difficult decision not to pursue an appeal”, because “the profound emotional upheaval and financial burden make such a course of action untenable”.
Moore’s fundraising, which involved the 99-year-old walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday in April 2020, offered a rare ray of light amid the shadow cast by the pandemic. He was honoured with a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II later that summer. Moore died in February 2021 after testing positive for Covid, and the feelgood story of his achievements subsequently turned sour amid the commission’s investigation into the foundation and media criticism of his family.
There was controversy over the construction of an unauthorised spa pool block in the grounds of the family’s Bedfordshire home where Moore completed his laps. The Ingram-Moores were given planning permission for an L-shaped building, which they called the Captain Tom Foundation Building, in 2021 but instead built a larger £200,000 C-shaped one containing a spa pool. It was demolished in February this year following the orders of an inspector in November. The house – minus spa – went on sale for £2.25m in April.
Additionally, in an interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV last year, Hannah Ingram-Moore said she had kept £800,000 from books that the late army veteran had written, saying he had wanted them to retain the profits.
She was appointed interim chief executive officer of the foundation from August 2021 until April 2022. Accounts published last year stated that she had received a gross salary of £63,750 in her role and £7,602 in expense payments for travel and administration between June 2021 and November 2022.
Last year, it was announced that the foundation would stop taking donations and be wound down, even though the commission inquiry had yet to conclude.
The commission said the disqualification orders for Hannah Ingram-Moore and Colin Ingram-Moore were for a period of 10 and eight years respectively.
David Holdsworth, the chief executive of the Charity Commission, said: “As a fair, independent and evidence-led regulator, we only disqualify someone from serving as a trustee or a senior manager in a charity when the evidence gathered means it is proportionate and lawful to do so. The evidence in this investigation meant that the level of misconduct and/or mismanagement was serious enough to warrant this action.”
The regulator said it could not provide further information about the findings of the inquiry before its conclusion.
