'His wishes, not ours': Captain Tom's family insist they were right to keep £800,000 from his books
12 October 2023, 15:23 | Updated: 12 October 2023, 15:24
Captain Tom Moore's daughter and her husband have insisted they were right to keep £800,000 from three books because it was "his wishes".
She said: "They were my father's books, he wrote them and he decided what to do with the income from them – it was his wishes, not ours.
"He made the decisions about the things that he did, we didn't act for him."
Asked by Piers Morgan if they had their time again, whether the family would still keep the money, Hannah's husband Colin said: "Yes, it was his money, his income."
Speaking to Talk TV Ms Ingram-Moore admitted that money from Captain Tom's three books went into Club Nook Ltd - a firm separate to the charity in his name.
In a trailer released ahead of a one-hour tv special tonight, the family doubles down on their assertion that they never took 'a penny' directly from The Captain Tom Moore Foundation for personal gain.
They also open up about their regret over building a controversial spa and pool complex at their mansion - but confess that they are hoping to win an appeal to keep it nevertheless.
Sir Tom, who died in February 2021, became a national figure after raising £38.9m for the NHS, including gift aid, by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday at the height of the country's first national COVID lockdown in April 2020.
He was later knighted for inspiring the nation. In another revelation, Hannah said she was paid £18,000 for attending the Virgin Media O2 Captain Tom Foundation Connector Awards in 2021 — when already handsomely paid as chief executive of the body.
The fee was paid to her family firm, Maytrix Group, and she kept £16,000, donating £2,000 to the Captain Tom Foundation.
Blinking back tears, Hannah added: “I think in hindsight what I should have done is stalled that relationship to afterwards.”
She added: “I think it’s all very easy to look back and think I should have made different decisions, but I hadn’t planned on being the CEO.”
The family also spoke of their "regret" over the spa and pool complex at their £1.2milion home.
It has been reported that Ms Ingram-Moore told planners they wanted an office for the charity set up in Sir Tom's name but built the complex instead.
Plans for the site said it would be used partly "in connection with The Captain Tom Foundation and its charitable objectives".
However, a subsequent retrospective application a year ago for a larger building containing a spa pool was refused by the planning authority.
Hannah said: “We have to accept that we made a decision, and it was probably the wrong one.”
But rather than ditch their appeal to demolish the spa, the family are holding out for the verdict in the faint hope they can still enjoy the facility, which they insist they paid for themselves.
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 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."
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.
Colin — who now regrets how his father-in-law’s charity was set up — added there were threats to firebomb their house.
Hannah also sobbed about a sick online forum in which, “they were all discussing how they were going to kill us all in our beds, with pitchforks and hammers.”
She added: “It was never our intent to do anything other than work with my father’s legacy to give as much as we could to the world.”