November 21, 2024, 10:15 p.m.

Former director of Captain Tom Moore’s foundation said he was “stunned” by what he saw at the charity.

Jack Gilbert revealed the charity’s behavior “shocked” him as he accused Captain Tom’s daughter of being partly motivated by self-interest.

It follows an investigation which revealed Captain Tom’s daughter and her husband used the charity set up in her father’s name for their “significant” personal gain.

Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband Colin committed repeated wrongdoing in the management of the Captain Tom Foundation, the Charity Commission has ruled.

Learn more: Captain Tom’s daughter and her husband made ‘significant personal benefit’ from father’s charity, inquest finds

Speaking for the first time since the investigation’s findings were published, Mr Gilbert, the association’s former chief executive, said: “When I arrived I have to admit I was stunned.

“I was shocked by the number of systems that simply did not conform to best practices. »

Speaking to the BBC, he added: “One of my first exercises was, of course, securing trusted charity status for the foundation, which involved jumping through a whole series of hoops. different obstacles.

“And the thing is, even though we had implemented a lot of them, a lot of key practices just weren’t in place.”

The commission launched the inquiry in 2021, and it became a statutory inquiry in 2022 as concerns grew over Mr and Mrs Ingram-Moore’s management of the charity.

Ms Ingram-Moore was “disingenuous” in claiming she was not offered a six-figure sum to run the foundation, the inquest heard.

Although this is technically correct, she had already actually asked for £150,000 and been rejected. She then received a salary of £85,000 per year prorated over nine months.

For Captain Tom’s books, Club Nook, a company of which the Ingram-Moores are directors, received an advance of almost £1.5 million.

The commission said the public would “understandably feel misled” to learn that sales of his autobiography, Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day, did not benefit the charity.

“If you are the chief executive of a charity and you represent that charity, it is very unusual, unheard of, for the charity not to benefit from the activities that you carried out during your working day “added Mr. Gilbert.

He said Captain Tom’s Charity was a “missed opportunity” and called it “deeply unethical” for charity bosses to benefit from their work.