'Millionaire' cheat escapes jail
 |
Ingram, seen at court with his wife, says he won the top prize honestly.
Story Tools
|
LONDON, England -- A British army major and his wife were given an 18-month suspended sentence Monday after being found guilty of cheating to win the jackpot on the television quiz show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire.''
Major Charles Ingram and his wife Diana, both 39, were also each fined £15,000 ($23,400) and ordered to pay £10,000 ($15,600) in costs.
College lecturer Tecwen Whittock, 53, was also found guilty in a London court of conspiracy after plotting to win the £1 million ($1.58 million) top prize on the ITV1 show by using a series of coughs to indicate the correct answers.
Whittock was given a 12-month suspended sentence, fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £7,500.
The show's production staff became suspicious of loud coughing and called in police after the September 2001 taping. The cheque to Ingram was then stopped and the show was never broadcast.
"Millionaire'' has become one of the most successful television formats across the world, broadcast in more than 100 countries. Since it started in Britain in 1998, just over 50 people around the globe have managed to win the top prize.
Prosecutors alleged Whittock used a total of 19 strategic coughs to let Ingram, an officer with the Royal Engineers, know which of the four possible answers was the correct one.
They accused Diana Ingram, an army nurse, of helping "set up" the scam.
Ingram and his wife have both insisted the £1 million prize was won honestly, while Whittock told the court his coughs were genuine and random and had nothing to do with the officer's answers.
The court was told Whittock suffers from hayfever, a dust allergy and asthma, giving him a "convincing" explanation for his coughing during filming of the UK version of the quiz.
