CHARLES Ingram, the disgraced former Army officer, has walked free from court without a fine or community sentence following his conviction on two counts of deception in relation to a home contents insurance policy.

After deliberation, Judge Samuel Wiggs agreed with Ingram's barrister Selva Ramasamy that Ingram had "suffered enough".

The judge cited the effect of the adverse publicity on Ingram's family following his conviction for cheating on the TV programme Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and his claim for £30,000 from a burglary at his home in Easterton High Street in July 2001, not being honoured by Direct Line, his insurance company.

Ingram, 41, had pleaded not guilty to gaining a pecuniary advantage by getting insurance cover from first, Zurich Municipal insurance company, and then Direct Line, by failing to inform them of his full claims history.

The jury at Bournemouth Crown Court found him not guilty on the Zurich Municipal matter, and four charges in connection with claims he had made from them in relation to losses, but guilty on the Direct Line policy and the claim for £30,000.

Judge Wiggs adjourned the case last month for the preparation of a pre-sentence report. Last Friday Ingram appeared back in the dock, with the prospect of a jail sentence or a period of community punishment hanging over his head, but Mr Ramasamy had another suggestion to make to Judge Wiggs.

He described as "a bold submission" the idea that Ingram should be given a conditional discharge because the prosecution had been brought "in somewhat unusual circumstances".

He said: "This is a very unusual case. Most people think of insurance fraud in terms of bogus insurance claims, staging burglaries and making up a story. This is not so in this case."

He said that Ingram's offence had been in not making a full disclosure to his insurance company. For the vast majority of people in a similar situation, he said, the policy would be made void and no further action would be taken.

Mr Ramasamy said Ingram had been punished "very heavily already" by the loss from the burglary and by the impact of the case on his ability to get insurance cover. He is now paying £400 a year more for insurance cover than before the case.

He said Ingram was suffering from depression and stress and there was concern over his mental health due to the ongoing publicity.

Judge Wiggs interjected: "He doesn't exactly shun publicity."

Mr Ramasamy replied that Ingram was unemployed and unemployable since leaving the Army and any money from his appearances on TV went to charity.

He added that the Ingrams were more than £400,000 in debt and the mention of bankruptcy was made.

After retiring to consider sentence, Judge Wiggs said: "Although the previous proceedings cannot have any influence on sentencing for this case, I can't treat you as a man of good character.

"You are not in a position to pay a financial penalty and I note you are not prepared to take on free work in the community because you are concerned people might bully you.

"But you have very much punished yourself. I originally thought this case was too serious for a conditional discharge but it is the only realistic option left to the court."

Ingram was given a two-year conditional discharge and there was no order for costs.

Judge Wiggs said Ingram's best course was to file for bankruptcy.

Couple pursue publicity in bid to dispel the myths

CHARLES Ingram and his wife Diana have modelled themselves on disgraced former MP Neil Hamilton and his wife, Christine, by embracing as much media exposure as possible over the last few weeks.

They revealed on Real Story on BBC1 on Monday that they had decided to make the most of any opportunity to declare their innocence of any wrong doing in regard to Mr Ingram's appearance on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in 2001.

But, as was also revealed on the programme, the strategy is not without its drawbacks. They agreed that they could have done without the visit of Jade Goody, the former Big Brother contestant, who lived at Easterton for a week as part of the TV show Celebrity Wife Swap, sceened earlier this month.

And their appearance at a car boot sale in Melksham was greeted by sporadic coughing from passers-by, in reference to the alleged coded coughs that were said to have given Mr Ingram the correct answers during his bid to scoop £1million.

Mr Ingram was bitter about the role of the quiz show makers Celador on Monday's programme. He referred to them as Mordor, the home of the powers of evil in Lord of the Rings.

As a result of the couple's abortive attempt to sue Celador for the honouring of the £1million cheque that Mr Ingram apparently won, they are now more than £400,000 in debt.

He was also depicted phoning round trying to get the services of an insolvency adviser, with bankruptcy appearing the couple's only option.

The impact of their current situation was evident on their three daughters, Portia, Rosie and Hester. Rosie said: "When we lived in Swindon things were much better."

Mr Ingram told the Gazette: "We hope the programme helped show a side to us that perhaps hasn't always been projected in the Press.

"I certainly hope this dispels a few myths concerning the so-called fortune we were supposed to have made as everyone saw, we're skint.

"Obviously, some bits were less than flattering but overall we are grateful to the BBC for producing a fairly balanced programme."