Afghan Heroes' trustees took money for themselves

The charity was set up to help ex-service personnel who had served in Afghanistan

Trustees of a failed armed forces charity took hundreds of thousands of pounds out of it for their own purposes, a report has found.

Afghan Heroes was set up in October 2009 but the Charity Commission started an inquiry into it in 2013.

It said donors could feel "angry" about how the charity's trustees had presided over "waste and incompetence".

Its investigation found that of £1.2m raised in 2013 alone, just £53,000 was spent on direct charitable purposes.

The Charity Commission also found a relationship between Afghan Heroes and a company that raised money for it from 2012 was not properly documented or monitored.

Prize Promotions Ltd (PPL) was found to have raised £3.5m but only about £750,000 was ultimately given to the charity.

The charity's leading two trustees were found to have taken at least £250,000 out of the charity improperly. They have both since died.

Another £98,000 in "unauthorised remuneration" went to two other trustees whose companies provided professional services to the charity.

The Charity Commission said it would not formally name any of those trustees.

Liam Fox resigned as a patron of the charity following a "breakdown in trust"

Singer Tony Christie recorded a charity single for Afghan Heroes, Steal the Sun, which was released in October 2011.

Former Defence Secretary Liam Fox served as the Somerset charity's patron before resigning over a "breakdown in trust" in December 2013 when he learned it was under investigation.

The Charity Commission admitted its inquiry had been "ongoing for a very long time" but that it had tried unsuccessfully to "secure restitution for funds" raised by PPL on the charity's behalf.

Afghan Heroes was first set up to send gift boxes to troops in Afghanistan and later changed its aims to help former army personnel.

In 2013 it set up a retreat in a pub in Ashcott, near Glastonbury, for five soldiers who had returned from the Middle East but that project ultimately made £185,000 of unrecoverable losses.

The charity also loaned £40,000 to a subsidiary to refurbish a second pub in Minehead. But the inquiry found neither the charity nor the subsidiary had any formal legal interest in it.

Tony Christie recorded a charity single for Afghan Heroes

By the end of 2013, the subsidiary had made a loss of more than £73,000 on that venture and owed the charity £43,000.

The charity was formally wound up in 2019 and was removed from the Charity Commission's register in May 2020.

Amy Spiller, head of investigations at the Charity Commission, said the trustees of Afghan Heroes "lacked the understanding or expertise required to run a charity effectively".

"They mismanaged the charity, including by receiving personal benefits they were not entitled to.

"They effectively caused the loss of very significant amounts of charitable funds that should have been spent to support veterans with complex needs."