PRIZE FOOL
CHRIS Tarrant has revealed how a Who Wants to be a Millionaire cheat first aroused suspicion when he was heard rowing with his wife moments after winning the show.
Major Charles Ingram scooped the £1million prize in the 2001 but was found to have cheated in a sensational coughing scandal involving a member of the audience.
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The cheque was taken from him as he left the studio as suspicions began to surface.
Host Tarrant has now opened up about how the scam first began to unravel just moments after Ingram won the jackpot.
Writing in new book It’s Not A Proper Job, which has been quoted by the , he said: "I went back towards the Ingrams’ dressing room to congratulate them. But I was stopped in my tracks by Eve, a lovely girl in our research team who was sobbing.
"‘What’s wrong, Eve?’ I asked. ‘It’s been the most amazing night.’
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‘No,’ she said, ‘the Major has just told me very forcibly to get out of his dressing room and eff off. I went to see them with a big bottle of champagne, but they were having this massive row.’
"Now, it doesn’t matter who you are, and how unhappy you may be as a couple, if you have just won £1 million, surely you would be in a celebratory mood?"
The row was enough for the production team to start trawling through the tapes where they eventually discovered a pattern of coughing coming from the audience.
Fellow contestant Tecwen Whittock had coughed loudly to indicate the right answer and blew his nose loudly when the major was about to give a wrong answer.
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The police were called and Ingram, his wife Diana and Whittock went on trial at Southwark Crown Court in 2003.
Jurors heard there were 192 coughs recorded during the second night of the show - 32 from the ten Fastest Finger First contestants, with 19 of these "significant".
The court heard the coughs were from Whittock - although it was accepted by the prosecution that he had two long standing respiratory conditions and suffered from persistent coughing.
All three were convicted of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception on April 7, 2003.
Both Diana and Charles were given an 18 month prison sentence suspended for two years, while Whittock received a 12 month sentence suspended for two years.
All three continue to maintain their innocence and Ingram and Diana vowed to fight their convictions.
But Tarrant insists the shamed major is guilty, saying: "We have never got to the bottom of exactly what happened, but clearly if you do have a phone on and open in the studio the questions and answers can be heard from anywhere.
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"You then only need a very basic search engine to find the right answer.
"Although I saw nothing at the time, I have now sat with the programme’s makers and the fraud squad for so many hours viewing tapes, that I am convinced in my own mind that the Major is guilty as sin."
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