Captain Tom charity boss quits after 'wanting to oust son-in-law for rebrand'

17 December 2023 , 07:31

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Captain Sir Tom Moore raised £38.9million during the Covid lockdown (Image: Getty Images)

The director of Captain Sir Tom Moore's charity has resigned months after he allegedly tried to oust the war hero's son-in-law.

Companies House records show Solicitor Simon DeMaid resigned from the firm attached to the non-profit Captain Tom Foundation on November 27. The Charities Commission website has also removed him from the list of trustees - a position he held alongside Colin Ingram-Moore - husband of the late veteran's daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore - and chairman Stephen Jones.

The foundation was set up in memory of Captain Tom, who raised £38.9million by doing 100 laps of his 25-metre garden during the first Covid lockdown to raise money for NHS staff. He died at the age of 100 in February 2021. The charity has been blighted by a number of controversies.

Solicitor Simon DeMaid (Linkedin)

These have allegedly led to Mr DeMaid and Mr Jones distancing themselves from Mr Ingram-Moore, and reportedly looking at potentially axing him from the foundation as part of a rebrand, reported The Times in July. Last month, Mr and Mrs Ingram-Moore lost a planning application appeal against the demolition of a luxury pool complex in their garden. The couple were told they would have to tear down the facility for good after it was ruled that the outbuilding was done illegally. The U-shaped block was erected on their land at the family home in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, in 2021.

Before the latest turn of events, Mrs Ingram-Moore tearfully admitted to keeping £800,000 from the sales of her father's books which she insisted she was entitled to during a sit-down interview with Piers Morgan. She said she kept money raised from three books her inspirational father had written. She told Mr Morgan Captain Tom wanted his family to keep the money from the books in Club Nook Ltd rather than the Captain Tom Foundation charity.

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Captain Tom and his daughter Hannah (Getty Images)

But the prologue to Tom's autobiography Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day, appears to suggest it was raising money for the Captain Tom Foundation. Published in September 2020, it 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."

The original £38.9 million raised for the NHS was distributed through by NHS Charities Together. After he became a household name, his family set up The Captain Tom Foundation, with the aim of helping 'empower' older citizens. However, the Charity Commission launched an investigation amid 'concerns' about its links to Mrs Ingram-Moore and her husband's private company, Club Nook Ltd. She has defended setting up the charity in her father's name and said she would never hurt his legacy.

Hannah with husband Colin (left) and son Benjie (right) (PA)

She has also denied claims that the Foundation had planned to appoint her as chief executive on a salary of £150,000. "The £150,000, it's absolutely not true," she said, speaking to This Morning. "What the trustees did was ask for a benchmarking, 'if we were to employ a CEO what's the highest, what's the lowest', the highest happened to be £150,000, the lowest was about £60,000, depending on the charity, so it's simply not true."

When it came to addressing reports that the charity paid more than £50,000 to companies run by her and her husband, she admitted they had loaned money from her business to the charity and it was reimbursed. She described accusations that she was 'milking her father's legacy' as 'devastating'. "My whole life I've wanted to be held accountable, that's what my father taught me – stand up, be counted and be accountable."

The Mirror contacted Mr DeMaid for a comment.

Ryan Merrifield