Quiz cheat Major appears in court

An Army major appeared in court today charged with dishonestly attempting to win £1 million on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.

Charles Ingram, 39, won the top prize on the TV programme hosted by Chris Tarrant last September.

Today he appeared at Bow Street Magistrates Court, central London, with his wife Diana Ingram, 38, and business lecturer Tecwen Whittock, 52, all charged with deception and conspiracy.

The trio, who did not enter a plea, spoke only to confirm their names and addresses.

District Judge Nicholas Evans told them to return to Southwark Crown Court on August 28 and gave them conditional bail.

They are charged between January 1 and September 11 2001 with "conspiring together with others, with a view to gain for yourselves or to cause loss to others to procure Christopher Tarrant to sign a cheque by falsely representing that Major Charles Ingram did not have assistance in answering questions on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"They were also charged with "dishonestly procuring Christopher Tarrant to sign a cheque by deception on September 10 2001".

The major, his nursery nurse wife and Whittock, who is head of business studies at Pontypridd College in south Wales, were arrested last November on suspicion of conspiring to swindle the programme makers, Celador Productions.The Ingrams, of The Grange, High Street, Easterton, Wiltshire, and Whittock of Heol-y-Gors, Whitchurch, Cardiff, were charged after answering bail in London last week.Following his appearance on the programme, the £1 million prize was withheld.

Ingram has strenuously denied that he cheated and has launched a civil action against the programme makers to recover the money.