RSPCA rapped by charity watchdog for letting its chairwoman’s daughter live rent-free in a £750,000 cattery
We revealed last year how Katie Toms helped choose the £450,000 four-bed property in 2011
THE RSPCA has been rapped by the charity watchdog for letting its chairwoman’s daughter live rent-free in a £750,000 cattery.
We revealed last year how Katie Toms helped choose the £450,000 four-bed property in 2011.
A further £275,000 was spent renovating it before she was chosen to move in and run it. It was close to her chairwoman mum Daphne Harris’s home.
The Charity Commission launched its investigation after The Sun exposed the set-up.
But the RSPCA complained about our suggestion just 12 cats were looked after.
It never denied Mrs Toms lived rent free in Headcorn, Kent.
Yet it hired lawyers for weeks of legal argument to insist 45 cats were on site. We printed a correction.
The RSPCA has refused to say whether it used public donations on the complaint.
The damning Charity Commission report ruled even though Mrs Harris excluded herself from the decision to give her daughter the job, the family link was a risk to the perception of independence.
The charity watchdog also found “concerning gaps” in record keeping.
Mrs Harris’s tenure as chairwoman ended last week.
The RSPCA said this was not linked to the watchdog’s findings.
The Sun Says: Petty RSPCA
THE RSPCA have let their supporters down.
Last year we reported the charity had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on a Kent property, to be lived in by the daughter of one of its top officials.
Angered, the charity hired expensive legal firm Harbottle & Lewis to pursue us about a tiny detail in the story, rather than addressing the very real concerns about conflict of interest.
Well, the Charity Commission has now concluded the RSPCA did break basic rules, vindicating our coverage.
The result? The charity most likely has a massive legal bill and a telling-off from the watchdog.
Makes you wonder what their priorities are – and where your donations are going.
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