A charity which provided flights in a World War II aeroplane to sick and terminally ill children invalidated its insurance by failing to ensure the plane had the appropriate certificate of airworthiness, a Charity Commission inquiry has found.

Known as Tigers for Kids, the charity also failed to keep a conflict of interest policy despite almost all of its trustees being related to the operations director and sole volunteer, and lacked effective financial controls which led to a mixing of personal and charity funds.

Concerns were first raised about an alleged misuse of the charity’s bank account by the operations director. The Commission later found that he had only undergone a CRB check after the inquiry was underway and that he had previously been convicted of a serious criminal offence and also for fraud.

The charity, which in the year ending 31 March 2008 had an income of £13,112, was removed from the register of charities in July that year having been registered for seven years.

The full inquiry report can be read here.