Omaze rejects ‘wholly false’ allegations that its latest house draw breaches planning regulations

The company, which raises funds for charities through million-pound property prize draws, denied allegations that its Norfolk house draw fails to comply with the relevant planning permissions, after a probe was launched by North Norfolk District Council.

The £6m coastal property in North Norfolk is nearly 5,000ft² and includes three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a tennis court.

It is being raffled off in a prize draw that will raise funds for Comic Relief alongside a £250,000 cash prize, the winner of which will be announced on the BBC’s Red Nose Day programme on 21 March.

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Trustee disqualified for social media activity wins appeal against regulator in landmark ruling

A former trustee who was disqualified by the Charity Commission for alleged Islamophobic social media activity has won a charity tribunal appeal case against the regulator, reversing the decision in a landmark ruling.

In 2023, Gary Mond, who had been a trustee of five charities, was banned from trusteeship by the regulator for two years due to his social media activity, including comments on two Facebook posts made in 2014 and 2016.

But the charity tribunal overturned the commission’s disqualifications, finding that Mond’s social media conduct was “capable of damaging public trust and confidence in charities in which he was a trustee” but was “not sufficient in itself to establish that he is unfit to be a charity trustee or that it was desirable in the public interest for the order to be made”. 

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Major children’s charity receives ‘monumental’ £18m donation

Barnardo’s said the gift, from the Katherine Martin Charitable Trust, was the largest it had received in its 160-year history. 

The trust, which was set up after the death of the businesswoman and racing driver Katherine Martin, supports just three charities that were explicitly named by Martin in her will.

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