In 2012 Miss Hamilton, a 53-year-old former City trader, started a relationship with Melanie Brown, 27, an administrative assistant at the charity’s HQ in Burford, Oxfordshire.
Six months later, bisexual Miss Brown ended the relationship and started seeing the charity’s head of fundraising, Mike Crossley, 52.
He was later sacked from his £80,000-a-year job and was paid £60,000 to sign a gagging clause to stop him discussing the reasons.
A source said at the time: ‘Kim told Mike he was in a relationship with a vulnerable person at work, and that it was inappropriate so he had to go.
‘His departure was a direct result of his relationship with Mel. It was an entirely personal thing. But how could it be inappropriate if Kim had also had a relationship with Mel?’
Last August Miss Brown was found hanged at her flat in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. An inquest will be held this year.
There is no suggestion that her relationship with Miss Hamilton was in any way linked to her suicide.
The situation prompted Blue Cross employees and volunteers to write to the board of directors to warn that the charity had ‘lost its way’.
They wrote: ‘We feel compelled to write to you out of deep concern for the charity, given the damage that has been done since Kim Hamilton took over as CEO in 2008.
It feels as if Kim Hamilton brought the morally corrupt ethics of the banking sector with her when she joined Blue Cross.
Blue Cross has an income of £31million a year and runs four animal hospitals and 12 rehoming centres managed by 650 employees.
‘As a charity, we do everything we can to ensure that Blue Cross funds are focused on helping pets.’
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