Jury in millionaire major trial told of phone calls

The jury was told Ingram, of High Street, Easterton, near Devizes, was helped to answer 15 questions correctly by loud and repeated coughs made college lecturer Tecwen Whittock, who was seated ten feet away.

Major Ingram, 39, his wife Diana, also 39, and Whittock, 53, of Whitchurch, Cardiff, deny procuring Mr Tarrant to sign the £1 million cheque by deception.

Southwark Crown Court heard that the Ingrams and Whittock had been in contact by phone on a regular basis for several months before the Royal Engineers major won the top prize on the show on September 10 2001. But they ignored each other at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, where filming took place.

Nicholas Hilliard, prosecuting, said: "There's no evidence that the Ingrams and Mr Whittock spoke to each other at the studio earlier in the day before recording started. Indeed, both men deny having met or spoken to each other.

"Before September 10, if there had been prior contact between the three of them, then you might expect that there might have been some contact between them when all got together at the studio.

"Ordinarily, you might expect them to have sought each other out. Unless, of course, for some reason, the Ingrams and Mr Whittock did not want to be seen together."

He added: "There is evidence of telephone contact between Mr Whittock on the one hand and on the other, the Ingrams' home telephone, Diana Ingram's mobile phone and the telephone of Adrian Pollock, her brother."

From February 5 until September 10 there were numerous calls between the Ingrams and Whittock, Mr Hilliard said.

But after Major Ingram scooped £1million there was no contact between them. Mr Hilliard said: "What could be more natural or expected between people who had been telephoning each other before?"

The court was told a researcher heard the Ingrams arguing after the show and that Major Ingram appeared irritated and tetchy.

Mr Hilliard added: "For the next few days you would be on tenterhooks to see if you got away with it."

Millionaire trial starts

ARMY major Charles Ingram teamed up with his wife and another accomplice to cheat his way to the top prize in the TV show Who Wants to be A Millionaire? a jury heard yesterday.

The prosecution told London's Southwark Crown Court that as the questions from game show host Chris Tarrant grew in difficulty and financial reward, Major Ingram, of High Street, Easterton, near Devizes, was helped by repeated coughs from a friend in the audience.

Nicholas Hilliard, prosecuting, said that the system enabled the 39-year-old major, who is based with the Royal Engineers at Upavon, near Pewsey, to decide each time which of the four possible answers was the correct one.

Speaking at the start of what is expected to be a four-week trial, Mr Hilliard said that, like all contestants appearing on the popular TV show, Major Ingram had to sign a form before his appearance agreeing to play by the rules.

The barrister said: "The rules indicate that you must not confer with anyone else to answer questions.

"To state the obvious, you are not allowed to get the prize money if you use a scheme which no one knows about to get help from someone else in answering questions.

"You may think it inevitable, human nature being what it is, that where £1million is regularly on offer, someone, somewhere will have thought how it might be possible to improve their chances in getting their hands on the money by cheating.

"That is exactly what the prosecution says happened in this case.

"Put simply, the allegation is that Mr Ingram cheated his way towards winning £1million on that quiz show, and that, also involved in the dishonest scheme were his wife, Diana, and a third defendant, Tecwen Whittock."

Ingram and his 38-year-old nursery nurse wife, and Whittock, 52, of Whitchurch, Cardiff, who is head of business studies at Pontypridd College, South Wales, each deny procuring Mr Tarrant to sign the £1million cheque by deception.

Mr Hilliard told the jury: "Mr Tarrant wouldn't have signed the cheque if he'd known Mr Ingram was cheating."

The court, which was packed with relatives and dozens of members of the press, was told that Major Ingram had said to the presenter "I've got a strategy" before he went on to answer 15 questions correctly on September 10 2001.

But Mr Hilliard said that Whittock was sitting ten feet away and repeatedly and deliberately coughed to help indicate the right answers.

He said that Major Ingram, who has three daughters aged between 11 and four, correctly answered the fastest finger question on September 9.

This put him in the hot seat opposite Mr Tarrant and he had reached the £4,000 mark when the day's filming finished at Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.

Next day Whittock was among the ten new contestants waiting to compete for the fastest finger question.

Mr Hilliard said that during the course of the remaining questions, Major Ingram answered there were 19 particular coughs which, he said, came from the area Whittock was sitting and helped the contestant.

"When you watch the film and listen to it, you can, we suggest, see how Mr Ingram won £1 million with coughs," Mr Hilliard told the jury.

On the first question: Who was Jackie Kennedy's second husband? the jury could hear a loud cough after Major Ingram had pondered whether the answer was Aristotle Onassis.

Mr Hilliard said a number of people in the audience heard the coughing.

He continued: "Obviously, one way of increasing your chances of winning would be if you could set up some form of signal from someone else. Of course, the signaller may not know the answer to every question and may not be able to help each time, or the contestant may already have some idea of the right answer, but not be 100 per cent sure.

"But if he gets help from a signaller, it may help to confirm what the contestant thinks is the right answer."

Mr Hilliard told the jury that Major Ingram and his wife had both previously appeared on the show, but while Mrs Ingram managed to win £32,000 in April 2001, Major Ingram failed to get through the initial fastest finger round.

Mrs Ingram's fascination with the TV quiz had prompted her and her brother Adrian Pollock, who won a similar amount the previous December, to write a book advising hopefuls how to get on the programme. It included a contribution from her husband.

The case continues