Captain Sir Tom Moore’s daughter has allowed his legacy to be tarnished - Jayne Dowle

Her father, Captain Sir Tom Moore, will forever be remembered as a hero of the pandemic, but his daughter will go down in history as a disgrace.

The life coach and marketing exec – her website describes her as “one of Britain’s leading business women” (sic) – was in charge of running The Captain Tom Foundation, set up to support and continue Captain Sir Tom’s legacy of raising money for good causes.

Instead of honouring his achievements, Ingram-Moore has allegedly used his name, and the foundation, for personal profit.

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At the age of almost 100 in April 2020 Captain Moore (knighted at Windsor Castle by the late Queen in July that year), set off around his daughter’s garden with his walking frame, aiming to reach 100 laps. Public donations totalling £38.9m poured in, which went to NHS CharitiesTogether.

Captain Sir Tom Moore's daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore. PIC: Jacob King/PA WireCaptain Sir Tom Moore's daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore. PIC: Jacob King/PA Wire
Captain Sir Tom Moore's daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore. PIC: Jacob King/PA Wire

Ingram-Moore, now 54, rapidly stepped into the limelight too, often pictured with her father, steering his media appearances.

Rapidly, Ingram-Moore, in partnership with her chartered accountant husband, Colin, spotted an opportunity to set up the Captain Tom Foundation, purportedly to continue the former British Army officer’s good work. She became chief executive, receiving a salary of £85,000 a year.

However, whilst we might forgive rookie mistakes in paperwork and procedures, it soon became apparent that all was not as it seemed. And now the Charity Commission watchdog, which began investigating the foundation in June 2022, has released a shocking report detailing serious allegations of misconduct by both Ingram-Moore and her husband. Tellingly, the findings point to, “not an isolated incident but a repeated pattern of behaviour”.

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It calls Ingram-Moore “disingenuous” and “misleading”. The commission’s chief executive, David Holdsworth, states it found “repeated instances of a blurring of boundaries between private and charitable interests, with Mr and Mrs Ingram-Moore receiving significant personal benefit”. Holdsworth concluded his damning assessment with the words that the foundation “has not lived up to that legacy of others before self, which is central to charity”.

Whilst the rest of us were dealing with a global pandemic, losing our own loved ones and wondering what might happen next, the Ingram-Moores signed a three-book deal worth £1.5m on behalf of Captain Tom with the publisher Penguin, for his autobiography, Tomorrow Will Be a Good Day, Captain Tom’s Life Lessons: Above All Be Kind, and One Hundred Steps, a children’s book.

They promised to donate part of the publishing advance to the charitable foundation.

No donation appeared. People who bought the book thinking they were supporting the charity were misled, the commission suggests: apart from £18,000 from a £1-a-copy donation on the first book, the deal was a “purely commercial endeavour” benefiting the family.

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Then there was the personal appearance for Virgin Media. Captain Tom himself was paid £10,000 by the telecommunications firm to judge its Local Legends awards in 2020. But after his death in February 2021, his daughter arranged her own £18,000 deal to take over his role, the commission notes.

And then the swimming pool planning application, perhaps the tipping point, certainly with the Ingram-Moores’ neighbours in the Bedfordshire village where Captain Sir Tom did his 100 laps in the garden of his daughter’s £2.25m mansion.

The Ingram-Moores used the charity’s name in an August 2021 planning application for a “Captain Tom Foundation building” in the grounds. Initially given council approval, presumably because of its supposed charitable purpose, the family subsequently resubmitted the application, removing references to Captain Tom, adding their intention to build a spa/pool.

The Ingram-Moores told the inquiry the inclusion of the charity name in the original application was “an error” – both were distracted because they were “busy undertaking global media work”. The building ended up having to be demolished.

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What a sad and sorry end to one man’s mission to make a difference.

And still his daughter doesn’t seem to get it: “I feel the weight of responsibility for doing the right thing, for not letting people down and responding to the love and compassion that has come our way,” she says on her (still live) website, where she offers ‘business, executive and life coaching’ starting at £1,450 a pop.

Who would take advice from a woman who has so comprehensively failed to do the right thing? She’s failed her father, and she’s also failed all those people who gave willingly, who bought the books and the branded gin and the roses and the stickers and the T-shirts.

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