The founder of the Kids Company charity Kamila Batmanghelidj has died at the age of 61

Kamila Batmanghelidjthe founder of Children's company charitydied at the age of 61.

An Iranian-born social justice activist, he founded Kids Company in 1996 to support the vulnerable children and youth in London and Bristol.

She died on Monday – her 61st birthday – after suffering from the illness for some time.

She is said to have spent her last Christmas wrapping presents for vulnerable children.

A family statement released to the Guardian newspaper said she died “peacefully in her sleep” on the night of January 1 after celebrating her birthday with loved ones.

She is described as an “endless source of inspiration” who has “dedicated her life to protecting the rights of Britain's most vulnerable children”.

The statement said: “To all those around her, and especially to her family, she was an endless source of inspiration, a source of intelligence and a kaleidoscope of colour.”

Ms Batmanghelidjh was born into a wealthy family in Iran and moved to England when she was 12 years old. She graduated with a first class degree from the University of Warwick.

She founded her company in 1996 after training as a psychotherapist.

Ms Batmanghelidj resigned from her charity in 2015 after allegations of mismanagement. However, in 2015, the High Court cleared her of guilt.

The charity was mired in scandal in 2015 after police launched an investigation, which was dropped after seven months, into unsubstantiated allegations of abuse and exploitation following the broadcast of a BBC Newsnight report.

The charity attracted a number of celebrity supporters to the inquiry, including former prime minister David Cameron, Coldplay, artist Damien Hirst and comedian Michael McIntyre, and Ms Batmanghelidj was awarded a CBE for her work.

In 2021, a High Court judge rejected an attempt to ban Ms Batmanghelidj and seven former trustees from being company directors.

In 2022, the Charity Commission later published a report which concluded that the charity had been mismanaged, claiming it operated a “high-risk business model”.

Later that year, Ms Batmanghelidj won a High Court application for a judicial review of the report.