Captain Tom’s daughter says family kept £800,000 from his books ‘because it’s what he wanted’
Hannah Ingram-Moore said she has ‘regret’ over building spa and pool complex under charity’s name
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Your support makes all the difference.Captain Tom’s daughter has admitted to keeping £800,000 from three books the late army veteran had written, despite the prologue of one of them suggesting the money would go to charity.
Hannah Ingram-Moore said her late father had wanted his family to keep the profits in Club Nook Ltd, a firm that is separate from the Captain Tom Foundation.
His daughter said during an interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV: “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. Specifically.”
The Independent exclusively revealed last year the foundation had paid tens of thousands of pounds to companies run by Ms Ingram-Moore and her husband, and that the Charity Commission had launched an investigation.
Captain Tom, who served in the Second World War, became a nationally celebrated figure after raising £38.9m for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday during the height of the Covid national lockdown.
He died in 2021, while thousands of buyers of his books, including his autobiography Tomorrow Will Be a Good Day, were unaware the profits were going to his family.
The prologue of his book reads: “Astonishingly at my age, with the offer to write this memoir I have also been given the chance to raise even more money for the charitable foundation now established in my name.”
However, Ms Ingram-Moore, who was joined by her husband and two teenage children, insisted there was no suggestion anyone who purchased the books thought the money was going to charity.
She also spoke of her “regret” over building a spa and pool complex at their Grade II listed home in Bedfordshire, despite planning applications being submitted in the foundation’s name.
The spa and pool were refused by the planning authority, but it was built regardless. The Captain Tom Foundation stopped taking donations once the dispute came to light, and is currently the subject of an inquiry.
“We have to accept that we made a decision, and it was probably the wrong one,” she said.
Ms Ingram-Moore was also questioned about her decision to accept a payment of £18,000 for attending the Virgin Media O2 Captain Tom Foundation Connector Awards in 2021, despite already being paid as the charity’s chief executive.
Of the money paid to the family’s company the Maytrix Group, only £2,000 went to charity while Ms Ingram-Moore kept £16,000.
Becoming tearful, she said: “I think it’s all very easy to look back and think I should have made different decisions, but I hadn’t planned on being the CEO.”
In a clip released ahead of the interview, which is due to be aired on Thursday evening, Ms 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.”
The Charity Commission launched an inquiry into the foundation in June last year, after identifying concerns about the charity’s management and independence from Captain Tom’s family.
It had already opened a case into the charity shortly after the 100-year-old died, 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, Ms Ingram-Moore, received a gross salary of £63,750 in her role as interim chief executive officer.
The Charity Commission had consented to an annual salary of £85,000.
She also received £7,602 in expense payments for travel and administration between June 2021 and November 2022.
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