Woman to appear in court accused of pouring faeces over Captain Tom Moore statue

A woman is set to appear in court accused of pouring faeces over a memorial for Sir Captain Tom Moore.

Madeleine Budd, 21, of Kedleston Avenue, Manchester, was arrested by the Metropolitan Police in central London on Sunday.

It comes after a video was posted online showing human faeces being poured onto the life-sized statue of the World War Two veteran in Thistley Meadow, Hatton, south Derbyshire.

Budd was charged with criminal damage by the Derbyshire Police on Monday. She is set to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday morning.

Budd, a former medical student from Wales, said:

'I was studying to become a doctor because I believe in taking care of people. If we believe that the NHS is important, if we believe in taking care of each other, if we believe that NHS workers are doing essential work, why are we forcing our healthcare system into collapse?'

Sir Tom shot to national fame when he raised almost £33m for NHS charities during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic by walking laps of his garden aged 100.

He was later knighted by the Queen before he died with Covid-19 in February 2021.

This incident comes after The Charity Commission launched an inquiry into The Captain Tom Foundation after identifying concerns about the charity’s management and independence from the late veteran’s family.

The watchdog opened a case into the charity in March 2021, a month after Sir Tom died, and began reviewing the set-up of the organisation.

This has now escalated to an inquiry after the commission became concerned about arrangements between the charity and a company linked to Sir Tom’s daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, and her husband Colin, as well as the trustees’ decision-making and how the charity is governed.

The commission said it is concerned that a “failure to consider intellectual property and trademark issues” when the charity was set up gave a private company, called Club Nook Limited, the opportunity to trademark variations of the name “Captain Tom” without objection from the charity.

This could have generated “significant profit” for the company, which is controlled by Ms Ingram-Moore and Mr Ingram-Moore, the commission added.

The inquiry, which was launched in June this year, is analysing whether the trustees of The Captain Tom Foundation have been responsible for mismanagement or misconduct in the administration of the charity leading to any losses, adequately managed conflicts of interest and complied with their duties and responsibilities under charity law.