Captain Tom’s family insist they’re right to keep £800k from his books

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Captain Tom Moore’s daughter and her husband have insisted the family were right to keep £800,000 made from three books written by the lockdown hero and wouldn’t do anything differently because it was ‘his wishes’. 

Hannah Ingram-Moore insisted the books were ‘never anything to do with’ the Captain Tom Foundation.

She said there was nothing in the contract that referred to the charity, nor was there ever any agreement that cash from her father’s book deals would go to charity. 

In an interview with Piers Morgan, she said she would tell critics: ‘They were my father’s books, he wrote them and he decided what to do with the income from them – it was his wishes, not ours.

‘He made the decisions about the things that he did, we didn’t act for him’ 

Asked by Mr Morgan if they had their time again, whether the family would still keep the money, Hannah’s husband Colin said: ‘Yes, it was his money, his income.’

Hannah Ingram-Moore insisted the books were ‘never anything to do with’ the charity

Asked by Mr Morgan if they had their time again, whether the family would still keep the money, Hannah’s husband Colin said: ‘Yes, it was his money, his income.’

The couple also insisted none of the £800,000 came from Captain Tom themed merchandise. 

The amount of cash raked in by Captain Tom Moore’s family off the back of his £39million fundraising legacy has been laid bare today – amid growing calls for them to give it back.

Ms Ingram-Moore confessed and broke down in tears in the interview with Mr Morgan, who declared that holding on to the money was ‘deeply unethical and a betrayal’ of her father’s legacy.

She told TalkTV that Sir Tom wanted them to get the profits from his three books, pocketing £800,000 in the process. However, the prologue of his autobiography calls this claim into question and suggests the veteran thought his books were just another way for him to raise cash.

Crying, she told Mr Morgan: ‘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…’ Piers interjected: ‘For you to keep?’, and she responded: ‘Yes. Specifically’.

In an emotionally-charged interview, due to be broadcast at 8pm tonight, Ms Ingram-Moore’s family suggested she had been suicidal and they had suffered death threats. 

But following their admissions, the Captain Tom Moore Twitter account has today been inundated with messages from people who donated, demanding the family give the cash back.

Captain Tom Moore’s family have been handed money from various routes, including from three of his books

Hannah Ingram-Moore (pictured celebrating the laps with her late father) told how she received the money thanks to her father

During the interview, Mrs Ingram-Moore faces questions from Piers Morgan about the spa and pool complex they built using the charity’s name

Hannah’s husband Colin told Mr Morgan: ‘We should have done it in a different way’ – but the family has so far refused to return any cash.

Ms Ingram-Moore also broke her silence on the £85,000 salary she earned as interim CEO of the Captain Tom Foundation. She also received £7,602 in expense payments for travel and administration between June 2021 and November 2022.

She also admitted she was paid £18,000 for attending the Virgin Media O2 Captain Tom Foundation Connector Awards in 2021 – when already being paid as chief executive of the body. The money was paid to her family firm, Maytrix Group, and she banked £16,000, donating just £2,000 to the Captain Tom Foundation.

Maytrix Group has already been pilloried for taking up to £100,000 in furlough cash and £47,500 in Covid loans during the pandemic.

The family also opened up about their regret over building a controversial spa and pool complex at their mansion – but confessed that they are hoping to win an appeal to keep it nevertheless. Rising building costs mean the price of the office and spa complex could have been in the region of £200,000, according to two local estate agents who spoke to MailOnline in July.

In a tearful interview, Hannah Ingram-Moore said how the family received the money thanks to her father’s wishes – whose lockdown walks raised £39million for the nation’s health service.

Mrs Ingram-Moore said her father wanted them to keep the profits from his three books: Captain Tom’s Life Lessons, One Hundred Steps and his autobiography Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day.

The family is also adamant that people buying the books were never told their money was going to charity.  However, the prologue of his autobiography calls this claim into question.

The extract 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.