Cancer charity founder paid herself £31,000
♦ A breast cancer charity founder who was made an MBE paid herself £31,000 and spent only 3 per cent of the charity’s £909,634 in funds on good causes, a Charity Commission report has disclosed.
The watchdog gave a charity founded by Wendy Watson its first official warning since it received the power in November last year, in the wake of scandals including the death of Olive Cooke, a poppy seller who killed herself after receiving 3,000 charity mailings in a year.
A report by the Charity Commission found that Mrs Watson, founder and former trustee of the National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline, was paid £31,000. Mrs Watson said the payments were “errors”.