Captain Sir Tom Moore’s daughter and her husband have been disqualified from being charity trustees amid an ongoing inquiry into the foundation set up in the war veteran’s name.
A statement from the Ingram-Moore family said Hannah and her husband Colin had been served an order of disqualification as trustees by the Charity Commission.
Despite the option to appeal, the family said they have made the “extremely difficult decision” not to do so, saying the “profound emotional upheaval and financial burden make such a course of action untenable”.
The Captain Tom Foundation was set up in May 2020 after Sir Tom’s fundraising efforts in the first Covid-19 lockdown.
The foundation has been the subject of an investigation by the charity watchdog, amid concerns about its management and independence from Sir Tom’s family.
The Charity Commission opened a case into the foundation shortly after the 100-year-old died in 2021, and launched its inquiry in June 2022.
The family said they “fundamentally disagree” with the watchdog’s decision, and described the ongoing inquiry as having been a “harrowing and debilitating ordeal”, as well voicing concerns that the commission’s investigations had become a “relentless pursuit”.
In their statement they said: “The disqualification has been imposed without the conclusion of the statutory inquiry into The Captain Tom Foundation.
“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/grandfathers’ legacy.
“It has been a harrowing and debilitating ordeal that has gone on for over two years.
“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.”
They added that they had “fully co-operated with the commission at all times” and said both Mr and Mrs Ingram-Moore had “never accessed or made any payments from the charity’s bank account” while independent trustees had “maintained full control over the charity’s finances since inception”.
A lawyer for the family has previously stated that the foundation could shut down.
Speaking in October last year during an appeal hearing against the demolition of a spa pool block at the home of the Ingram-Moores, barrister Scott Stemp said the charity is “unlikely to exist” in future.
The family lost that appeal and a digger was seen tearing down parts of the unauthorised building earlier this year.
Sir Tom raised £38.9 million for the NHS, including Gift Aid, by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday at the height of the first national Covid-19 lockdown.
He was knighted by the late Queen during a unique open-air ceremony at Windsor Castle in summer 2020.
The Charity Commission has been contacted for comment.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
