‘Military’ charity ordered to close

A military charity has been ordered to close by the charity commission.

The order has come as a result of an investigation that found the 1st Knight Military Charity sold a number of “offensive” merchandise in its Blackpool shop.

A 2016 BBC documentary filmed charity bosses making “wholly offensive and inappropriate anti-Islamic comments” during a visit to the shop where the “offensive” merchandise was first seen. 

It was in February 2017 when Charity Commission investigators visited and found the offensive merchandise was still on sale.

Charity bosses denied any orders were ever fulfilled.

However, the Commission said it had “concluded that it was academic if the items were available or not, and the fact they were advertised at all was inappropriate and damaging to the reputation of the Charity”. 

Following the charity’s closure, any remaining funds are to be given to another charity with similar authorised objectives.

Michelle Russell, director of investigations, monitoring and enforcement at the Charity Commission, said: “The public rightly expect charities to demonstrate the highest standards of integrity and conduct. 

“What we saw, in this case, fell short of that: not only was this charity mismanaged, we also saw evidence of behaviours and attitudes that have no place in charity.”

Speaking to The Blackpool Gazette in 2016, when the allegations against him were first brought to light, trustee Andrew Linihan said his comment had been meant as “forces banter”.

He said: “This has been a nightmare for us. “It is a mistake. These products should never have been on sale online or in the shop and they have all been withdrawn.

“We are not proud of what happened. We never sold many of these items and you can find them in other places in the town.

“We are a charity which supports soldiers with post traumatic stress and other conditions. They didn’t show the good work we do.

“Some of the people filmed in the shop were veterans who are struggling with PTSD. “What they said was banter between soldiers.

“But it is not acceptable. The bottom line is that once it’s been said it can’t be taken back.

“All I can do is apologise.”

The charity is now listed as “ceased to exist” on the Commission’s website. 

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