Captain Tom’s family slash price of £2,250,000 mansion and take him off listing
Captain Sir Tom Moore’s family have cut £250,000 off the asking price for their country mansion and removed any mention of his name from the listing in a renewed bid to sell the property.
The Grade II-listed Old Rectory, described in its original sale listing as a ‘magnificent seven-bedroom property’, has been on the market since last April and carried a £2.25million price tag.
In a video tour of the home in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, a sculpture of Captain Tom with his walking frame is seen in the hallway of the main house.
A photograph of the fundraising hero being knighted by the Queen could also be seen displayed on a wall in the separate coach house building within the house’s grounds, which was currently being as a gym and offices.
The house was listed as ‘no longer available’ on estate agent Fine and Country’s website last week.
But the home is back on offer for £2million, the Mirror reports, with no mention of Sir Tom, his daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore, 53, or her husband Colin, 66, in the current listing.
The current listing says: ‘The vendors have owned the property for 18 years and have undertaken a comprehensive programme of improvement and renovation.’
The Ingram-Moores faced heavy criticism after a damning report found they had pocketed more than £1million through their association with the charity set up in Sir Tom’s name.
The charities watchdog concluded there had been repeated instances of misconduct by the couple.
World War Two veteran Sir Tom became a household name in the pandemic, raising £38.9 million for the NHS, including gift aid, by walking laps of his garden before his 100th birthday in April 2020.
He was knighted by the late Queen during a unique open-air ceremony at Windsor Castle in the summer of that year.
But separately, a £1.4 million book deal and an £18,000 awards ceremony appearance fee were among the financial benefits Mr and Mrs Ingram-Moore enjoyed through their family links to the Captain Tom Foundation.
The commission’s report found a ‘repeated pattern of behaviour’ which saw the couple make private gains and which the watchdog said will have left the public feeling ‘misled’.
Scott Stemp, representing Mrs Ingram-Moore and her husband, said last year that the foundation ‘is to be closed down following an investigation by the Charity Commission’.
He was speaking at an appeal hearing over an unauthorised spa pool block in the grounds of the property, which was flattened in February of this year.
Inspector Diane Fleming had ruled in November that the spa block must be demolished within three months by February 7.
The original sale listing said that the 18th Century Old Rectory boasts four bathrooms, four reception rooms and is set within 3.5 acres of land, with a standalone coach house.
An agent’s note states that, prior to viewing the property, any interested parties will be required to ‘provide proof of financial ability to proceed with the purchase’.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.