The amount of cash raked in by Captain Tom Moore’s family off the back of his £39million fundraising legacy has been laid bare today – amid growing calls for them to give it back.
Hannah Ingram-Moore confessed and broke down in tears in an interview with Piers Morgan, who declared that holding on to the money was ‘deeply unethical and a betrayal’ of her father’s legacy.
Ms Ingram-Moore told TalkTV that Sir Tom wanted them to get the profits from his three books, pocketing £800,000 in the process. However, the prologue of his autobiography calls this claim into question and suggests the veteran thought his books were just another way for him to raise cash.
Crying, she told Mr Morgan: ‘These were my father’s books, and it was honestly such a joy for him to write them, but they were his books. He had an agent and they worked on that deal, and his wishes were…’ Piers interjected: ‘For you to keep?’, and she responded: ‘Yes. Specifically’.
In an emotionally-charged interview, due to be broadcast at 8pm tonight, Ms Ingram-Moore’s family suggested she had been suicidal and they had suffered death threats.
But following their admissions, the Captain Tom Moore Twitter account has today been inundated with messages from people who donated, demanding the family give the cash back.
Captain Tom Moore’s family have been handed money from various routes, including from three of his books
Hannah Ingram-Moore (pictured celebrating the laps with her late father) told how she received the money thanks to her father
During the interview, Mrs Ingram-Moore faces questions from Piers Morgan about the spa and pool complex they built using the charity’s name
Hannah’s husband Colin told Mr Morgan: ‘We should have done it in a different way’ – but the family has so far refused to return any cash.
Ms Ingram-Moore also broke her silence on the £85,000 salary she earned as interim CEO of the Captain Tom Foundation. She also received £7,602 in expense payments for travel and administration between June 2021 and November 2022.
She also admitted she was paid £18,000 for attending the Virgin Media O2 Captain Tom Foundation Connector Awards in 2021 – when already being paid as chief executive of the body. The money was paid to her family firm, Maytrix Group, and she banked £16,000, donating just £2,000 to the Captain Tom Foundation.
Maytrix Group has already been pilloried for taking up to £100,000 in furlough cash and £47,500 in Covid loans during the pandemic.
The family also opened up about their regret over building a controversial spa and pool complex at their mansion – but confessed that they are hoping to win an appeal to keep it nevertheless. Rising building costs mean the price of the office and spa complex could have been in the region of £200,000, according to two local estate agents who spoke to MailOnline in July.
In a tearful interview, Hannah Ingram-Moore said how the family received the money thanks to her father’s wishes – whose lockdown walks raised £39million for the nation’s health service.
Mrs Ingram-Moore said her father wanted them to keep the profits from his three books: Captain Tom’s Life Lessons, One Hundred Steps and his autobiography Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day.
The family is also adamant that people buying the books were never told their money was going to charity. However, the prologue of his autobiography calls this claim into question and suggests the veteran thought his books were just another way for him to raise cash.
The extract read: ‘Astonishingly at my age, with the offer to write this memoir I have also been given the chance to raise even more money for the charitable foundation now established in my name.’
During the bombshell interview with TalkTV’s Piers Morgan – which will air in full on Thursday night – Mrs Ingram-Moore also broke her silence on the £85,000 salary she earned as interim CEO of the Captain Tom Foundation as well as the £18,000 she made for being a judge at an awards ceremony which featured the charity’s name. Only £2,000 of that fee was donated to the charity.
Hannah Ingram-Moore said that her father had wanted them to keep the profits from his three books
In a tearful interview – which will air on Thursday night – his daughter told how they received the money thanks to her father
The highly charged discussion sees Mrs Ingram-Moore speak alongside her husband Colin and two children Benji, 19, and Georgia, 14, at their £1.2million Bedfordshire home – where Captain Tom walked his laps before his death in February 2021.
In a trailer released ahead of the one-hour special, the family doubles down on their assertion that they never took ‘a penny’ directly from The Captain Tom Moore Foundation for personal gain.
Discussing his books, which were written before his death aged 100, Mrs Ingram-Moore says the money made went into Club Nook Ltd – a firm separate to the charity in his name.
‘These were my father’s books, and it was honestly such a joy for him to write them, but they were his books,’ she says.
‘He had an agent and they worked on that deal, and his wishes were that that money would sit in Club Nook, and in the end…’.
Morgan then interrupts, asking her: ‘For you to keep?’, to which she replied: ‘Yes.’
The family also open up about the death threats they have received since it emerged they earned money from her late father’s hard work.
Mrs Ingram-Moore says: ‘There is a forum… they were all discussing how they were going to come and kill us all,’ while her husband added: ‘We should have done it in a different way.’
Morgan puts to them: ‘When I first walk in the first thing I see is a luxurious spa pool, that’s got nothing to do with Captain Tom,’ he says, seemingly in reference to the complex
Captain Tom receives his knighthood alongside his daughter Hannah (second from left), Colin Ingram-Moore (left) and his grandchildren Benji and Georgia at Windsor Castle
They also open up about their regret over building a controversial spa and pool complex (pictured) at their mansion – but confessed that they are hoping to win an appeal to keep it nevertheless
Captain Sir Tom Moore raised £39million for NHS Charities Together in the run up to his 100th birthday during the first lockdown in 2020. He died the following year
Hannah Ingram-Moore blows a kiss to the crowd from the Royal Box at Wimbledon in 2021 as she soaks up the love for her father’s hard work. It has now emerged she made hundreds of thousands of pounds
Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband ring the bell at Lord’s cricket ground with their children to launch the Captain Tom 100 challenge in April 2021
She describes the experience as ‘utterly devastating’, with her son confessing that ‘there has been genuine times where I don’t think she’s known if she could go on.’
In the trailer, Morgan also asks whether she had any qualms in receiving public donations, to which she admits: ‘I should have said no.’
It comes after the family came under fire for allegedly building a spa pool complex extension to their seven-bedroom Grade II-listed house using the Captain Tom Foundation’s name.
In the new interview, Morgan puts to them: ‘When I first walk in the first thing I see is a luxurious spa pool, that’s got nothing to do with Captain Tom,’ he says, seemingly in reference to the building.
‘We should have done it in a different way,’ Mr Ingram-Moore responded as his wife nods along.
Morgan then says: ‘Why are you reluctant to get rid of it?’
Instead of ditching their appeal to demolish the spa, the family are hoping that they can still enjoy the facility – which they insist was paid for themselves.
They launched the appeal after it emerged they had added a swimming pool and facilities including changing rooms, showers and toilets without permission.
Sir Tom was made an honorary colonel and was later knighted by the Queen (pictured in 2020) at Windsor Castle
The Charity Commission launched a statutory inquiry into the foundation last year over decisions that ‘may have generated a significant profit’ for a company run by the couple.
It said Club Nook Ltd had been given the ‘opportunity to trademark variations of the name ‘Captain Tom’ without objection from the charity, which raised money from branded products including gin and T-shirts.
The commission previously turned down an application for Mrs Ingram-Moore to become the foundation’s chief executive on £100,000-a-year – a salary similar to that run by the heads of major charities.
She was later allowed to take the post on an interim basis on the equivalent of £85,000-a-year.
Speaking about the whopping salary, she tells Morgan: ‘Yes, and look, absolutely in hindsight, the two things should have been separated, but that’s not how it landed, and it was done with love and with trying to ensure that the community and the Captain Tom Foundation benefited, and yes I got paid.’
Mrs Ingram-Moore will also speak about how she helped judge the Virgin Media O2 Captain Tom Foundation Connector Awards, which included the name of the charity and the charity’s logo on its awards plaque, in 2021 and 2022.
When asked about payment made to her for the appearance at the awards, Mrs Ingram-Moore reveals she was paid £18,000 while the charity set up in her father’s name received just a £2,000 donation.
According to The Sun, Morgan said after: ‘This was one of the most difficult interviews of my career… the bottom line is they should never have accepted or kept a penny from anything to do with Captain Tom and public money.
‘It wasn’t just a clear conflict of interest, and deeply unethical, it was a betrayal of his legacy.’
Captain Tom Moore’s extraordinary final year
April 6 2020: Captain Tom, aged 99, sets out to walk 100 laps of his garden by his 100th birthday. His target is to raise £1,000 for the NHS.
April 8: He is interviewed on local TV news after daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore sends them a press release.
April 14: Donations to his JustGiving page break the £1 million mark.
April 15: Health Secretary Matt Hancock hails him as an ‘inspiration to us all’ as donations top £10million.
April 16: Captain Tom completes his 100th lap of his garden and vows to keep walking.
April 17: Prince William describes the veteran as an ‘absolute legend’. Donations exceed £20 million.
April 30: A Spitfire flypast marks his 100th birthday. He receives thousands of cards including one from the Queen. His fundraising page closes at midnight having totalled £33million.
July 17: Captain Tom is knighted by the Queen in her first official engagement in person since lockdown lifted, becoming Captain Sir Tom Moore.
September 23: A film company announces it is to give Sir Tom the big screen treatment, following a fierce bidding war.
December 11: After consulting doctors, Sir Tom and his family fly to Barbados after being treated to a holiday by British Airways.
December 25: On Christmas Day Sir Tom tells BBC Breakfast things ‘will get better’ as families spend the holiday alone due to restrictions.
January 1 2021: His figure is formed in lights as part of New Year’s Eve celebrations in London to mark the end of 2020.
January 6: Sir Tom returns to Britain.
January 12: The veteran is admitted to Bedford Hospital and is diagnosed with pneumonia. Between December 9 and January 12 he is regularly tested for Covid-19 and tests negative each time.
January 22: Sir Tom is discharged to his family home so he can feel ‘comfortable’ but tests positive for coronavirus on the same day.
January 31: He is taken back to Bedford Hospital by ambulance for additional treatment for his breathing, after previously receiving care at home from his family and medical professionals.
February 1: His condition deteriorates and daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and grandchildren Benjie and Georgia visit his bedside to say goodbye while his other daughter Lucy Teixeira speaks to him by video call.
February 2: Sir Tom dies aged 100 in Bedford Hospital as his daughters pay tribute to their ‘incredible father’.
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