The family of Captain Sir Tom Moore say they have received death threats after keeping profits from the late charity campaigner’s books.
Sir Tom raised £38m for NHS Charities Together by walking sponsored laps around his Bedfordshire garden.
Speaking on TalkTV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored his daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore said the family had been left “devastated” having received hate mail and death threats.
She said: “There is a forum… they were all discussing how they were going to come and kill us all in our beds.”
Ms Ingram-Moore, who had been running the Captain Tom Foundation, described the abuse as “an underbelly of hate”.
The foundation was set up in her father’s name and health services have benefited from the its work.
The family have been criticised for keeping hundreds of thousands of pounds of profit from the books.
However is no suggestion that Ms Ingram-Moore acted illegally by keeping the money rather than donating it to her late father’s charity.
The Captain Tom Foundation is no longer taking donations and is currently the subject of a statutory inquiry by The Charity Commission.
Ms Ingram-Moore told presenter Piers Morgan that Sir Tom had always wanted the family to keep the profits from his books.
She added: “We haven’t been that family who’s tried to take his legacy and make it for our own gain.
“We’ve tried our best to do the right thing and sometimes it’s turned out it wasn’t - but not through intent.”
Her son Benji, 19, said of the abuse thrown at mother: “It’s utterly devastating and to see the impact it’s had on her... people can have opinions - that is up to them, but what you cannot stand are threats and abuse that are just vile.
“There have been genuine times when I don’t think she’s known if she could go on.”
Asked if she had felt that way, Ms Ingram-Moore responded: “No, I’m my father’s daughter at the end of the day... but it has been totally devastating.”
The family is currently appealing a ruling that they must demolish a building in their garden which was initially given planning permission.
It was originally approved for the use of the occupiers and the Captain Tom Foundation and was granted planning permission in August 2021.
It had been partly constructed when revised plans, which included a spa pool, toilets and a kitchen “for private use”, were submitted in February 2022 and rejected.
The family admitted to Morgan it was a mistake to have named the foundation in the initial application.
The Charity Commission said its inquiry into the Captain Tom Foundation remained ongoing.
A spokesperson said: “Its scope includes examining mismanagement or misconduct which may have led to any financial losses to the charity and whether the trustees have adequately managed conflicts of interest, including with private companies connected to the Ingram-Moore family.”
