Captain Sir Tom Moore’s family revealed that they all received death threats by the public as the controversy behind the foundation unravelled.
Hannah Ingram-Moore, Captain Sir Tom’s daughter, her husband, Colin, and two children, Ben and Georgia spoke to TalkTV’s Piers Morgan in an interview about controversy and backlash surrounding the Captain Tom charity.
Even Captain Tom’s teenage granddaughter was sent hate mail and death threats, the family said, as Ms Ingram-Moore spoke about the “underbelly of hate” that barraged the family.
The mother-of-two said she was told there is a forum online where people “were all discussing how they were going to come and kill us all”. She admitted she has not looked at it, otherwise she would “not be able to cope”.
She said: “People were saying ‘Oh she should be jailed for harming the elderly’, ‘Bet she’s got a cattle prod taking her father round the garden’, ‘Hope the whole family get Covid and die including him’.”
Captain Sir Tom Moore’s family revealed that they all received death threats— (PA)
The interview also revealed:
- The notorious pool and spa complex built in the family’s Grade II listed building was intended to be a “community building to help some of the aging population” as well as a storage site.
- The family said they were “never able to grieve” the death of Captain Tom “as a family” but had to “grieve with the world” and under the “glare of the media”.
- It was Captain Tom’s “dream to go to Barbados,” the family said. As part of his bucket list, Captain Tom’s daughter said her father wanted to go back to India, jump out of an aeroplane, and “go to watch the cricket in Barbados”.
- Captain Tom’s daughter has admitted to keeping £800,000 from three books the late army veteran had written
Captain Tom, who served in the Second World War, became a nationally celebrated figure after raising £38.9m for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday during the height of the Covid national lockdown.
He died in 2021, while thousands of buyers of his books, including his autobiography Tomorrow Will Be a Good Day, were unaware the profits were going to his family.
It was revealed in the interview that Captain Tom’s daughter has admitted to keeping £800,000 from three books the late army veteran had written, despite the prologue of one of them suggesting the money would go to charity.
Hannah Ingram-Moore said her late father had wanted his family to keep the profits in Club Nook Ltd, a firm that is separate from the Captain Tom Foundation.
She said: “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 that that money would sit in Club Nook, and in the end…”
Captain Sir Tom Moore was an inspiration during the pandemic— (PA Archive)
Morgan asked: “For you to keep?”, and she replied “Yes. Specifically.”
Ms Ingram-Moore, who was joined by her husband and two teenage children, furthermore insisted there was no suggestion anyone who purchased the books thought the money was going to charity.
The Independent exclusively revealed last year the foundation had paid tens of thousands of pounds to companies run by Ms Ingram-Moore and her husband, and that the Charity Commission had launched an investigation.
When Mr Morgan questioned the family about the issues around the charity and money they received from the books they quickly became uncomfortable.
Eventually, after what Ms Ingram-Moore described as an “unfair line of questioning,” the family demanded the interview to abruptly end and for the cameras to stop rolling.
Piers Morgan tells Captain Tom’s family ‘you are wrong’ as he wades in on swimming pool saga— (Piers Morgan Uncensored/TalkTV)
Mr Morgan revealed that the couple then told him off the record where the £800k had come from, and then agreed to resume the interview on-camera.
However, when the family returned to speaking on record, Mr Morgan asked the family about the impact the last year has had on them all.
“Utterly devastating,” Ms Ingram-Moore said, as her eyes welled up. “To think we had something that we thought could have a global positive impact to devastate overnight.
Her husband, Colin Ingram, looked emotional as he reflected on what the backlash “has done to Hannah”.
“She has been extremely ill from the stress,” he said. “We all have.”
His wife added: “We’re all judged on hindsight.
“Give us some credit for being human. We’re not an extraordinary family, we’re just a family doing our best in the circumstances we were plunged into.”
