MOORE TROUBLE AHEAD
Captain Tom charity: Moment daughter’s life unravelled from book profits & spa demolition row to where finances are now
Neighbours say Captain's Tom daughter has 'mocked' his legacy with the row
THE infamous spa at the home of Captain Tom Moore has now gone, but the "mockery" his daughter brought to his legacy remains.
Hannah Ingram-Moore was last seen looking downcast on Thursday as demolition work of the spa complex continued at the war hero's home.
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On Friday, the spa was lifted out of the illegally built add-on and carried away on a lorry.
Its removal ends a chapter in Hannah's unravelling life after Captain Tom united the nation during the Covid pandemic.
Hannah, 52, engineered her father's publicity during the coronavirus pandemic when Sir Tom began walking.
He had been challenged by his grandson to walk 100 laps of his garden before he turned 100 years old.
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With a background in retail branding, Hannah approached a PR consultant and suggested writing a press release for the event.
Hannah then started a JustGiving page with a £1,000 target and the feel-good story of the veteran took off.
Towels, t-shirts, gin, dolls, books, a movie, and even a miniskirt emblazoned with Sir Tom's face on it were all produced.
Hannah then set up Club Nook Ltd to protect all the intellectual property that had been made from the Captain Tom phenomenon as well as the Captain Tom Foundation for charity work.
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Withe public behind him, Sir Tom raised £38.9million for the NHS and became a pandemic phenomenon.
He was knighted by the late Queen during a unique open-air ceremony at Windsor Castle in the summer of that year.
The family travelled to Barbados after a fre trip was offered by the tourism board - a long held dream of Captain Tom's.
But a backlash began against the family, who were seen as being freeloaders.
Sir Tom died soon after from Covid after he was admitted to hospital with troubled breathing.
Hi coffin was draped in a Union Jack and carried to a crematorium by soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment while a World War-era plane performed a flypast.
But in the years following his death, the family has brought itself negative publicity.
A proposal aimed to make Hannah Chief Executive Officer of the foundation with a pay packet of £150,000.
The eye-watering sum was rejected by the Charity Commission who said Hannah's appointment was "neither reasonable nor justifiable".
Hannah also admitted to pocketing money that was earned through the books sold by Sir Tom.
The worst bit is that it’s made a mockery of Captain Tom’s name
One Bedfordshire neighbour
An investigation by the Charity Commission was subsequently started into the Captain Tom Foundation.
And a "humiliating" spa row erupted into public view as the family illegally built a new wing of a building next to the home.
A documentary titled Captain Tom: What Happaned Next? is set to air on the saga on Channel 5 Saturday.
THE SPA
In 2021 the council gave the green light for a new office building at the Bedfordshire home for Hannah and Colin to run the charity.
Hannah and husband Colin had applied in their own names for planning — but used the foundation’s name in the design and access and heritage statement.
The application claimed it the The Captain Tom Building and said it was to be used partly "in connection with The Captain Tom Foundation and its charitable objectives".
But the family instead built a 50ft by 20ft pool house with spa, changing rooms, toilets and showers in the garden of their £1.2 home in Marston Moretaine.
They filed a retrospective application for the add-on, but it was refused.
A court heard the add-on later "evolved" to include the spa pool.
Chartered surveyor James Paynter, speaking for the family in court, suggested it could be used for "rehabilitation sessions for elderly people in the area".
But Richard Proctor, Planning Enforcement Team Leader, said: “The Council’s position is that the building is wholly different to the application.”
The £200,000 spa complex was ordered to be torn down by February 7 this year.
Scaffolders arrived at the home on Tuesday, with a section of the roof removed the following day and the crane removing the spa pool on Friday afternoon.
Workers removed his BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award and Guinness Book of Records certificate from the building.
The daughter of the beloved war hero looked downcast as she watched demolition workers remove roof tiles, a sink, a toilet, and a home cinema from the site on Thursday.
Locals told of the family’s "embarrassment" on Wednesday while celebrating its imminent destruction.
Neighbours say they have "spoilt everything" over the "prison-like" spa complex.
Frustrated Ian Knight, told the : “We were proud of what he’s done but now we’re the laughing stock.
“They’ve spoilt everything. It was a good thing what he’s done, and now it’s embarrassing.”
The C-shaped building has "devalued" other homes and looks like a "prison", one neighbour said.
A third said it was "about time they knocked it down".
Others claimed Hannah and husband Colin had "never spoken to anybody", which further soured the neighbours' opinions.
A fourth angry local claimed fury was sparked in the village after Hannah spoke of installing a jacuzzi in the spa.
The resident said: "They said we will probably let the older people in the village come and use it.
“You must be bloody joking. It’s a load of bulls***.
“The worst bit is that it’s made a mockery of Captain Tom’s name.”
POCKETING FUNDS
Hannah pocketed £800,000 from the three books her dad had written, she told Piers Morgan in October. She claimed he wanted his family to keep the profits.
She also revealed she was paid £18,000 to attend the Captain Tom awards - but only donating £2,000 of it to his charity.
She told the TalkTV's host: "We have to accept that we made a decision, and it was probably the wrong one."
But £800,000 went to her firm Club Nook Ltd, which was set up just four months before the first tome, Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day: My Autobiography, was published in September 2020.
Charity Commission bosses are now probing the foundation.
The latest financial details about the charity show a total income of £400,000 and expenditure of £680,000.
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The charity has halted fundraising during the investigation.
A court was also told the Captain Tom Foundation will be shut down when a probe by the Charity Commission is over.
FROM NHS HERO TO SPA CARNAGE
How the Captain Tom Moore story unfolded:
- March 2020- D-Day veteran Captain Tom Moore walks 100 laps around his Bedfordshire garden before his 100th birthday, raising £30million for the NHS during the first lockdown
- April 2020 - Captain Tom walks laps of his Bedfordshire garden for NHS Charities Together, raises over £39 million
- June 2020 - Captain Tom Foundation established by daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore
- July 2020 - Captain Tom is knighted by the Queen in a special private ceremony at Windsor Castle
- September 2020 - Hannah Ingram-Moore launches the Captain Tom Foundation to combat loneliness
- December 2020 - Drones swarm into the shape of Captain Tom's face at the New Year's Eve firework display in London
- February 2021 - Captain Tom dies after contracting Covid-19
- 2021 - Council give permission to build garden office for foundation
- February 2022 - The Charity Commission launches a probe into the Captain Tom Foundation after it paid £50,000 to companies run by Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband Colin
- June 2022 - Charity commission investigates questions over foundation finances
- July 2023 - The foundation stops accepting donations. Planning chiefs order Hannah to tear down an unauthorised spa at her Bedfordshire home. The building had been approved to be used "in connection with the Captain Tom Foundation and its charitable objectives". But a larger building with a spa pool was built instead and was denied retrospective planning permission. Hannah appeals
- September 2023 - Accounts reveal Hannah received more than £70,000 to head the foundation
- October 2023 - Hannah loses her appeal and is ordered to demolish the spa and restore the garden to its original condition
- January 2023 - Demolition work begins
- February 7, 2024 - Spa complex due to be demolished
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