Captain Tom’s daughter’s illegal spa is COMPLETELY demolished as dramatic aerial shows dumper truck clearing away rubble
DRAMATIC footage has showed a dumper truck sweeping away debris from Captain Tom's daughter's illegal spa.
Aerial snaps show workmen clearing up the rubble from the controversial £200,000 complex at Hannah Ingram-Moore's home in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire.
Workers were seen clearing away bricks, tiles and debris after the building was bulldozed yesterday and reduced to a pile of rubble.
A gaping hole was left in the ground of the spa complex over the weekend after a crane removed the spa swimming pool.
Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband, Colin were told have the land put back to its original state by Wednesday.
The couple were initially granted six weeks to try to save the "unauthorised" building after losing a court case last October.
read more in news
The deadline for a judicial review passed in December - with the family failing to launch an appeal.
The demolition follows a monstrous planning row that began three years ago following Captain Tom's death.
The WW2 vet raised almost £40 million for the NHS by walking laps of his garden in Marston Moretaine over lockdown.
The challenge captured the nation's hearts and he was knighted for his achievements but sadly died of Covid in February 2021.
Most read in The Sun
Later that year, Hannah set up the Captain Tom Foundation before getting permission to build an office to house the charity.
The family applied in their own names for planning but used the foundation's name in the design, access and heritage statement, The Sun revealed last year.
But they instead built a 50ft by 20ft pool house with changing rooms, toilets and showers in the garden of their home.
The construction sparked fury among neighbours, with one slamming it had "devalued" other homes and looks like a "prison".
While 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.”
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
- June 2020 - Captain Tom Foundation established by daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore
- April 2020 - Captain Tom walks laps of his Bedfordshire garden for NHS Charities Together, raises over £39 million
- 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
A subsequent 2022 retrospective application - sought after something has already been built - to extend the building from an L-shape to a C-shape containing a spa pool, was refused by the planning authority.
The family lost an appeal against Central Beds Council to keep the spa after a planning inspector ruled it was "at odds" with their Grade ll listed home.
Workmen were last week pictured removing a BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award and Guinness Book of Records certificate from the building.
Last week a neighbour said it was "about time they knocked it down" while others claimed Hannah and husband Colin had "never spoken to anybody", which further soured the neighbours' opinions.
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.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
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.
