A British army major was found guilty yesterday of an elaborate swindle to win the jackpot on the TV quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.
Charles Ingram and his wife, Diana, hatched a plot with a college lecturer, Tecwen Whittock, to con their way to the million-pound top prize in front of TV cameras by using a series of coughs to indicate the correct answers.
The Ingrams were fined £15,000 each and given 18-month jail terms, suspended for two years. Whittock was fined £10,000 and given a 12-month suspended jail sentence.
Ingram, who served in Bosnia with the British army's Royal Engineers, thrilled the 300 people in the audience as he battled through 15 general knowledge questions to the jackpot, despite often appearing baffled.
Each question comes with four possible answers and Ingram would ponder aloud before making a final decision. It was during this time that the coughs from Whittock were heard.
With the audience erupting in cheers, the show's host Chris Tarrant told him: "You are the most amazing contestant we have ever had. I am so proud of you." But sound staff on the show became suspicious when they noticed the unusual amount of coughing.
They detected that 19 coughs came from the direction of Whittock, sitting behind Ingram waiting for the chance to play.
Celador Productions called in police, suspecting that Ingram had been helped, and cancelled his £1 million cheque. The show on which Ingram "won"was never broadcast, and he began legal action to recoup his lost winnings.
Detectives said Diana Ingram had set up the plan, speaking frequently to Whittock before the show and on the night between Ingram's two appearances for the show's filming.
Ingram maintained he never heard anything other than clapping, gasping and cheering during the show.
Whittock, a veteran of similar TV shows who described himself as obsessed with quizzes, said he was coughing because he suffered from hay fever and a dust allergy, and that the timing of his splutterings was purely coincidental.
Southwark Crown Court in London heard that the Ingrams had debts of over £50,000 while Whittock owed some £37,000.
Ingram (39), from Easterton, Wiltshire, his 38-year-old wife and Whittock (53), from Cardiff, were found guilty of conspiracy and "procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception", the million-pound cheque.
Diana Ingram and her brother, Adrian, had both been previous winners on the show, taking £32,000 each, and she had even written a book on how to succeed on the quiz, entitled Win A Million. It has never been published.
Just over 50 people around the globe have managed to win the top prize, including three on the original British version. - (Reuters)