Behaviour at Captain Tom charity left ex-boss 'gobsmacked'

21 November 2024, 22:15

The former head of Captain Tom Moore’s foundation has said he was “gobsmacked” by what he saw at the charity.

Jack Gilbert has revealed the behaviour at the charity left him “shocked” as he accused Captain Tom’s daughter of being partly motivated by self-interest

It comes after an inquiry found Captain Tom's daughter and her husband used the charity set up in her father's name to their "significant" personal benefit.

Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband Colin committed repeated acts of misconduct in their management of the Captain Tom Foundation, the Charity Commission ruled.

Read more: Captain Tom's daughter and her husband saw 'significant personal benefit' from father's charity, inquiry finds

Speaking for the first time since the inquiry’s findings were released, Mr Gilbert, the charity's former chief executive, said: "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.”

Speaking to the BBC, he added: “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."

The commission set up the inquiry in 2021, and it became a statutory inquiry in 2022 as concerns grew about Mr and Ms Ingram-Moore's handling of the charity.

Ms Ingram-Moore was "disingenuous" in claiming that she had not been offered a six-figure sum to run the foundation, the inquiry found.

While this was technically correct, she had previously effectively asked for £150,000 and been rejected. She was later given a salary of £85,000 per year pro rata for nine months.

For Captain Tom's books, Club Nook, a company of which the Ingram-Moores are directors, were given an advance of nearly £1.5 million.

The commission said the public "would understandably feel misled" to learn that sales of his autobiography, Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day, did not benefit the charity.

"If you're a chief executive for a charity and you are representing that charity, it is very unusual, unheard of, for the charity not to benefit from activities you've done during your working day," Mr Gilbert added.

He said Captain Tom’s Charity was a “missed opportunity” and branded it "deeply unethical" for charity bosses to benefit from their work.