Charity boss left Captain Tom Foundation nine months ago, reports claim, as spa controversy continues

The chief executive brought in to turn around the reputation of the Captain Tom Foundation left nine months ago, it has been reported.

Jack Gilbert was brought in last June following a decision by the Charity Commission to launch an inquiry into the use of Captain Tom’s name by a private company controlled by his daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband Colin.

The regulator was concerned that the charity did not object to Club Nook Ltd selling branded merchandise using Captain Tom’s name.

The company made £809,000 in its first year. The £38 million raised by the late Captain Sir Tom Moore during the coronavirus lockdown of 2020 was donated to a separate charity NHS Charities Together.

Mr Gilbert, a founding trustee of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, was appointed as the Captain Tom Foundation’s chief executive with the intention of transforming its reputation, after it emerged the charity spent more money on admin fees than on donations in its first year.

“My appointment marks the start of an important period of transformation for the Captain Tom Foundation,” he said last June.

But according to reports in The Times newspaper today, Mr Gilbert left the Foundation last October without a public announcement.

i has attempted to contact Mr Gilbert and the Foundation for further comment.

It comes amid renewed controversy surrounding the Ingram-Moores after they were ordered to demolish a spa complex built at their home in Bedfordshire.

The family were granted planning permission for an annex in the grounds of their home – a Grade II-listed building – on the basis it would be used for charitable purposes in 2021. They were told to make a separate retrospective application last year after it emerged the design had been altered to include a spa pool.

When reports of the spa pool first surfaced in The Sun this week, trustees of the charity said they did not know Captain Tom’s name had been used in the planning application and said they would not have supported it.

Central Bedfordshire Council has issued a demolition order which is currently subject to an appeal to the planning inspectorate.

Meanwhile, the Foundation has said it is no longer taking donations which the Charity Commission’s probe is ongoing.

“At this moment in time, the sole focus of The Captain Tom Foundation is to ensure that it cooperates fully with the on-going Statutory Inquiry by the Charity Commission,” a statement on the Foundation website reads.

“As a result, The Captain Tom Foundation is not presently actively seeking any funding from donors.

“Accordingly, we have also taken the decision to close all payment channels whilst the Statutory Inquiry remains open.

“Once the findings of the Statutory Inquiry have been communicated, The Captain Tom Foundation will be in a better position to make a decision in relation to its future, but for now, our main priority is to assist the Charity Commission with its enquiry.

“In the meantime, on behalf of the trustees of The Captain Tom Foundation, we wish to extend a warm thank-you to all our supporters who have enabled us to help charities that were close to Captain Sir Tom’s heart.”