Charles Ingram
Encyclopedia
Charles Ingram is a former British Army
major who made headlines worldwide after he was accused of cheating in the game show
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
in 2001. He was convicted of deception, although he maintains that he did not cheat. His brother-in-law, Adrian, and wife, Diana, had both previously appeared on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in December 2000 and 9 April 2001 respectively, each winning £32,000.
He is married to Diana Ingram and has since participated in other television game/reality shows, including The Weakest Link
(where he appeared with his wife Diana and was voted off in round 6), Wife Swap
(in which he swapped lives with Jade Goody
's partner for a week) and Hell's Kitchen. In 2003, he received a conditional discharge
for insurance fraud
after being found guilty of one count of deception and a related count regarding a claim against a house contents insurance policy.
and obtained a BSc in Civil Engineering
from Kingston Polytechnic
, an MSc in Corporate Management from the Defence College of Management and Technology
part of Cranfield University
, Chartered membership of the Institute of Personnel and Development
, membership of the Chartered Management Institute
, membership of the Association for Project Management
, and membership of the Society of Authors
. In 1986, he trained for the Army
at Sandhurst
and was commissioned as an officer
in the Royal Engineers
. He was promoted to the rank of Major in 1995, and in 1999 he served in Bosnia
for six months on NATO peacekeeping
duties. He was forced to resign from the Army in 2003 and later embarked on a career as a novelist. He now repairs computers for a living.
programme was produced by Celador
at Elstree Studios
, Borehamwood
, Hertfordshire
. The show, hosted by Chris Tarrant
, was recorded on 9 September 2001 and 10 September 2001. After winning £1,000,000, the payout was suspended when Ingram was accused of cheating by having his wife, Diana, and an accomplice, Tecwen Whittock, cough as Ingram announced the correct answers from the available choices. Following a trial at Southwark
Crown Court
lasting four weeks (including jury deliberation for three-and-a-half days), which ended soon after a jury member was evicted for discussing the case in public, Charles and Diana Ingram and Whittock were convicted by a majority verdict of "procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception" on 7 April 2003.
Diana Ingram had previously been a contestant and won £32,000. Her brother Adrian Pollock had also previously won the same amount. Both Diana Ingram and her brother had missed their £64,000 questions (the latter had used his 50:50 lifeline on his question).
On 7 April 2003 the Ingrams and Tecwen Whittock were each given prison sentences suspended
for two years (the Ingrams were sentenced for 18-months and Tecwen Whittock was sentenced for 12 months, also suspended), each fined £15,000, and each ordered to pay £10,000 towards prosecution costs. Within two months of the verdict and sentence, the trial judge ordered the Ingrams to pay additional defence costs, Ingram £40,000 and Diana Ingram £25,000. Altogether with legal fees, the Ingrams had to pay £115,000.
This particular episode was not only aired in the UK but also in many other countries, including the United States (where John Carpenter
and Kevin Olmstead were big winners) and Australia (whose second jackpot winner
was also subject to allegations of cheating but was later exonerated).
On 19 August 2003, the Army Board ordered Ingram to resign his commission as a major, with his state-earned pension of 17 years.
On 19 May 2004 the Court of Appeal denied Ingram leave to appeal against his conviction and upheld his sentence but agreed to quash his wife's fine and prosecution costs. On 5 October 2004 the House of Lords denied Ingram his leave to appeal against his fine and prosecution costs, and he appealed to the European Court of Human Rights
. On 20 October 2004 the original trial judge reduced Ingram's defence costs order to £25,000 and Diana Ingram's defence costs order to £5,000. On 21 May 2005, Ingram appealed against his conviction to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. The CCRC completed its review in autumn 2006 concluding that "there was insufficient prospect of overturning the conviction".
An essay written by James Plaskett
in favour of the innocence of Ingram, his wife and Whittock led to the journalist
Bob Woffinden
, who had a long time interest in miscarriages of justice
, publishing a two-page article in the 9 October 2004 edition of the British newspaper
the Daily Mail
, entitled "Is The Coughing Major Innocent?" Plaskett's essay also prompted a reconsideration of the case in The Guardian Comment Is Free blog on 17 July 2006 from an initially skeptical Jon Ronson. Plaskett may also be heard at Episode 29 of The Pod Delusion
podcast being interviewed by political blogger, Mark Thompson
, who was himself led by Plaskett's essay to take an interest in the case of The Millionaire Three.
Ingram and his wife declared bankruptcy
in October 2004. Having written two novels, The Network, published through a vanity publisher on 27 April 2006 and Deep Siege, published on 8 October 2007, Ingram now repairs computers for a living.
also denied hearing any coughing, claiming he was too busy to notice.
in a hand-written general knowledge book at his home.
Davies, the floor manager, said that as soon as the coughing came to his notice during the recording he decided to find out who was responsible. "The loudest coughing was coming from Tecwen in seat number three", he claimed. "He was talking to the person to his left when I was observing him, and then he turned towards the set and the hot seat to cough." Whittock remarked during the trial that "you do not cough into someone's face".
During the trial, Whittock portrayed himself as a "serial quiz show loser" because he had been eliminated in round one of "15 to 1" and had only won an atlas on his appearance on "Sale of the Century". However, Whittock twice won the Wales heat of Brain of Britain
(on BBC Radio 4) and in the 1994 semi-final was only narrowly beaten into runner-up spot. In the 1997 semi-final, he could only manage third place and the heat was easily won by quiz legend Daphne Fowler
.
Eve Winstanley testified in court that Ingram seemed very "unhappy" for someone who had just won a million pounds.
Celador employees produced and reviewed various compilation tapes, before and after contacting the police. Celador and their editing company, Editworks, retained all the tapes during the case and reproduced all tapes for court.
In court, Smith confirmed that his company had previously produced a television programme involving witnesses about the case, for broadcast on ITV after the trial. This was subsequently broadcast on ITV
a month after the trial as Tonight With Trevor McDonald – Major Fraud, which was credited with over 17 million viewers. Two weeks later, the day after Major Fraud aired in the USA, the same channel broadcast another programme on the same topic entitled The Final Answer, which was credited with over 5 million viewers.
The foreman at first told the judge that they thought Ingram and Tecwen to be guilty but Diana not. He was informed that since all three were co-defendants, this was not an acceptable conclusion. He then returned to the jury room and emerged some twenty minutes later saying that they now thought her guilty as well.
Immediately after the jury's verdict the judge sentenced the Ingrams to an 18 months imprisonment suspended for two years while Whittock received a 12 month suspended sentence
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
major who made headlines worldwide after he was accused of cheating in the game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (UK game show)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a British television quiz show which offers a maximum cash prize of one million pounds for correctly answering successive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty...
in 2001. He was convicted of deception, although he maintains that he did not cheat. His brother-in-law, Adrian, and wife, Diana, had both previously appeared on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in December 2000 and 9 April 2001 respectively, each winning £32,000.
He is married to Diana Ingram and has since participated in other television game/reality shows, including The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and will end its run in 2012 when its host Anne Robinson ends her contract. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment...
(where he appeared with his wife Diana and was voted off in round 6), Wife Swap
Wife Swap
Wife Swap is a reality television program, originally produced by UK independent television production company RDF Media and created by Stephen Lambert. It was first broadcast in 2003 on the UK's Channel 4. Since 2004, a US version has also been broadcast on the ABC network...
(in which he swapped lives with Jade Goody
Jade Goody
Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody was an English celebrity. She came into the public spotlight while appearing on the third series of the Channel 4 reality TV programme Big Brother in 2002, an appearance which led to her own television programmes and the launch of her own products after her eviction from...
's partner for a week) and Hell's Kitchen. In 2003, he received a conditional discharge
Conditional discharge
A discharge is a type of sentence where no punishment is imposed. An absolute discharge is unconditional: the defendant is not punished, and the case is over. In some jurisdictions, an absolute discharge means there is no conviction despite a finding that the defendant is guilty...
for insurance fraud
Insurance fraud
Insurance fraud is any act committed with the intent to fraudulently obtain payment from an insurer.Insurance fraud has existed ever since the beginning of insurance as a commercial enterprise. Fraudulent claims account for a significant portion of all claims received by insurers, and cost billions...
after being found guilty of one count of deception and a related count regarding a claim against a house contents insurance policy.
Education and career
Charles Ingram went to Oswestry SchoolOswestry School
Oswestry School is a co-educational independent school, located in the town of Oswestry, Shropshire, England. Founded in 1407 by David Holbache and his wife Guinevere Holbache, it is the second oldest non-denominational school in England....
and obtained a BSc in Civil Engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
from Kingston Polytechnic
Kingston University
Kingston University is a public research university located in Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, United Kingdom. It was originally founded in 1899 as Kingston Technical Institute, a polytechnic, and became a university in 1992....
, an MSc in Corporate Management from the Defence College of Management and Technology
Defence College of Management and Technology
The Defence Academy - College of Management and Technology is a British postgraduate school, research institution and training provider formed in 2009 from five departments of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, and as such part of the British Armed Forces. Since 1984 Cranfield University...
part of Cranfield University
Cranfield University
Cranfield University is a British postgraduate university based on two campuses, with a research-oriented focus. The main campus is at Cranfield, Bedfordshire and the second is the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom based at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire. The main campus is unique in the United...
, Chartered membership of the Institute of Personnel and Development
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development is Europe's largest professional institute for people management and development. It is located in Wimbledon, London, England. The organisation has over 135,000 members across 120 countries, and achieved chartered status in 2000...
, membership of the Chartered Management Institute
Chartered Management Institute
The Chartered Management Institute is a professional institution for managers, based in the United Kingdom.In addition to supporting its members, the organisation encourages management development, carries out research, produces a wide variety of publications on management interests, and publishes...
, membership of the Association for Project Management
Association for Project Management
The Association for Project Management is a registered charity in the United Kingdom, which aims to develop and promote the professional disciplines of project management and programme management, through a programme called the "Five Dimensions of Professionalism"...
, and membership of the Society of Authors
Society of Authors
The Society of Authors is a trade union for professional writers that was founded in 1884 to protect the rights of writers and fight to retain those rights .It has counted amongst its members and presidents numerous notable writers and poets including Tennyson The Society of Authors (UK) is a...
. In 1986, he trained for the Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
at Sandhurst
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...
and was commissioned as an officer
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
in the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
. He was promoted to the rank of Major in 1995, and in 1999 he served in Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
for six months on NATO peacekeeping
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping is an activity that aims to create the conditions for lasting peace. It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....
duties. He was forced to resign from the Army in 2003 and later embarked on a career as a novelist. He now repairs computers for a living.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? affair
The ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
programme was produced by Celador
Celador
Celador is a global light entertainment company originally formed as an independent production company in 1983. It has produced a number of popular light entertainment shows and is probably best known for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and co-producing the film Slumdog Millionaire which collected...
at Elstree Studios
Elstree Studios
"Elstree Studios" refers to any of several film studios that were based in the towns of Borehamwood and Elstree in Hertfordshire, England, since film production begun in 1927.-Name:...
, Borehamwood
Borehamwood
-Film industry:Since the 1920s, the town has been home to several film studios and many shots of its streets are included in final cuts of 20th century British films. This earned it the nickname of the "British Hollywood"...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
. The show, hosted by Chris Tarrant
Chris Tarrant
Christopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...
, was recorded on 9 September 2001 and 10 September 2001. After winning £1,000,000, the payout was suspended when Ingram was accused of cheating by having his wife, Diana, and an accomplice, Tecwen Whittock, cough as Ingram announced the correct answers from the available choices. Following a trial at Southwark
Southwark
Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...
Crown Court
Crown Court
The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
lasting four weeks (including jury deliberation for three-and-a-half days), which ended soon after a jury member was evicted for discussing the case in public, Charles and Diana Ingram and Whittock were convicted by a majority verdict of "procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception" on 7 April 2003.
Diana Ingram had previously been a contestant and won £32,000. Her brother Adrian Pollock had also previously won the same amount. Both Diana Ingram and her brother had missed their £64,000 questions (the latter had used his 50:50 lifeline on his question).
On 7 April 2003 the Ingrams and Tecwen Whittock were each given prison sentences suspended
Suspended sentence
A suspended sentence is a legal term for a judge's delaying of a defendant's serving of a sentence after they have been found guilty, in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation...
for two years (the Ingrams were sentenced for 18-months and Tecwen Whittock was sentenced for 12 months, also suspended), each fined £15,000, and each ordered to pay £10,000 towards prosecution costs. Within two months of the verdict and sentence, the trial judge ordered the Ingrams to pay additional defence costs, Ingram £40,000 and Diana Ingram £25,000. Altogether with legal fees, the Ingrams had to pay £115,000.
This particular episode was not only aired in the UK but also in many other countries, including the United States (where John Carpenter
John Carpenter (game show contestant)
John Carpenter became the first millionaire on the United States version of the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on November 19, 1999. He held the record for the largest single win in United States game show history, until it was broken by Rahim Oberholtzer who won $1.12 million on...
and Kevin Olmstead were big winners) and Australia (whose second jackpot winner
Martin Flood
Martin Flood is an Australian quiz show contestant who competed in the show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and participated in the short-lived program The Master. Flood was an I.T. analyst for Westpac bank at the time of winning 'Millionaire'...
was also subject to allegations of cheating but was later exonerated).
On 19 August 2003, the Army Board ordered Ingram to resign his commission as a major, with his state-earned pension of 17 years.
On 19 May 2004 the Court of Appeal denied Ingram leave to appeal against his conviction and upheld his sentence but agreed to quash his wife's fine and prosecution costs. On 5 October 2004 the House of Lords denied Ingram his leave to appeal against his fine and prosecution costs, and he appealed to the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
. On 20 October 2004 the original trial judge reduced Ingram's defence costs order to £25,000 and Diana Ingram's defence costs order to £5,000. On 21 May 2005, Ingram appealed against his conviction to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. The CCRC completed its review in autumn 2006 concluding that "there was insufficient prospect of overturning the conviction".
An essay written by James Plaskett
James Plaskett
Harold James Plaskett was British Chess Champion in 1990, awarded the International Grandmaster title in 1985, and is also a writer, blogger, sometime explorer/cryptozoologist and legal campaigner...
in favour of the innocence of Ingram, his wife and Whittock led to the journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
Bob Woffinden
Bob Woffinden
Bob Woffinden is a British investigative journalist. Formerly a reporter with the New Musical Express, Woffinden has specialized since the 1980s in investigating miscarriages of justice. He has written about a number of high-profile cases in the UK, including James Hanratty, Philip English, Sion...
, who had a long time interest in miscarriages of justice
Miscarriage of justice
A miscarriage of justice primarily is the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. The term can also apply to errors in the other direction—"errors of impunity", and to civil cases. Most criminal justice systems have some means to overturn, or "quash", a wrongful...
, publishing a two-page article in the 9 October 2004 edition of the British newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
, entitled "Is The Coughing Major Innocent?" Plaskett's essay also prompted a reconsideration of the case in The Guardian Comment Is Free blog on 17 July 2006 from an initially skeptical Jon Ronson. Plaskett may also be heard at Episode 29 of The Pod Delusion
The Pod Delusion
The Pod Delusion is a weekly podcast about "interesting things". The usual format is a series of brief monologues from a variety of amateur contributors, usually discussing topics from a viewpoint that is best described as skeptical and humanist...
podcast being interviewed by political blogger, Mark Thompson
Mark Thompson (blogger)
Mark James Thompson is a Liberal Democrat blogger based in Sandhurst in Berkshire. He edits the "Mark Thompson's Blog" which began in November 2008 and is also a regular contributor to the Dale & Co group blog edited by Iain Dale....
, who was himself led by Plaskett's essay to take an interest in the case of The Millionaire Three.
Ingram and his wife declared bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
in October 2004. Having written two novels, The Network, published through a vanity publisher on 27 April 2006 and Deep Siege, published on 8 October 2007, Ingram now repairs computers for a living.
Tapes
A transcript of the video tape played in court can be found here. In court Ingram claimed the video tape was "unrepresentative of what I heard"; indeed, he continues to assert that it was "unfairly manipulated". The audio recording of Whittock's coughing was amplified for the knowledge of the jury (and viewers in later television accounts) during the trial. He claims that he neither listened for, encouraged, nor noticed any coughing. The prosecution alleged that, of the 192 coughs recorded during his second-night performance, 32 were recorded from the ten Fastest Finger First contestants, and that 19 of the 32 coughs clearly heard on the video tape recorded louder than both Ingram's and Tarrant's voices, were "significant". Chris TarrantChris Tarrant
Christopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...
also denied hearing any coughing, claiming he was too busy to notice.
Larry Whitehurst
Whitehurst, another contestant who has appeared on the show as a Fastest Finger First contestant on four occasions, was adamant that he had known the answers to Ingram's questions. He told the court that he had been able to detect a pattern of coughing, and that he was entirely convinced coughing had helped Ingram.Tecwen Whittock
Whittock claims to have suffered from a persistent cough for his entire life and insisted that he had a genuine cough caused by a combination of hay fever and a dust allergy, and that it was only coincidence that his throat problem coincided with the right answer. During the trial, however, the jury heard evidence that once Whittock himself was picked to sit in the hot seat, his throat problems disappeared. Whittock later testified that he drank several glasses of water before he went in front of the cameras. Whittock also insisted that he had not known the answers to three of the questions he allegedly helped with. However, the police found the answer to question number 12 regarding the artist who painted The AmbassadorsThe Ambassadors (Holbein)
The Ambassadors is a painting by Hans Holbein the Younger in the National Gallery, London. As well as being a double portrait, the painting contains a still life of several meticulously rendered objects, the meaning of which is the cause of much debate...
in a hand-written general knowledge book at his home.
Davies, the floor manager, said that as soon as the coughing came to his notice during the recording he decided to find out who was responsible. "The loudest coughing was coming from Tecwen in seat number three", he claimed. "He was talking to the person to his left when I was observing him, and then he turned towards the set and the hot seat to cough." Whittock remarked during the trial that "you do not cough into someone's face".
During the trial, Whittock portrayed himself as a "serial quiz show loser" because he had been eliminated in round one of "15 to 1" and had only won an atlas on his appearance on "Sale of the Century". However, Whittock twice won the Wales heat of Brain of Britain
Brain of Britain
Brain of Britain is a BBC radio general knowledge quiz, broadcast on BBC Radio 4.-History:It began as a slot in What Do You Know? in 1953 before becoming a programme in its own right in 1967. It was chaired by Franklin Engelmann until his death in 1972.-Format:The format of the quiz is simple...
(on BBC Radio 4) and in the 1994 semi-final was only narrowly beaten into runner-up spot. In the 1997 semi-final, he could only manage third place and the heat was easily won by quiz legend Daphne Fowler
Daphne Fowler
Daphne Fowler born January 1939 in Warwick, Warwickshire, England, is a British retired bank secretary and game show champion who currently resides in Weston-super-Mare. Since taking early retirement, she has taken part in many televised game shows...
.
After the show
Tarrant, who drank champagne with the Ingrams in their dressing room, said he was convinced that Ingram was genuine when he signed the £1 million cheque, saying that "If I thought there was anything wrong, I certainly would not have signed it." When asked whether the atmosphere in the dressing room was tense after the show, Tarrant replied: "No, not at all. They seemed as normal as people who have just won a million pounds would be in the situation." However, he said that on his way to the dressing room, "I had been told there had been quite an unpleasant exchange."Eve Winstanley testified in court that Ingram seemed very "unhappy" for someone who had just won a million pounds.
Celador employees produced and reviewed various compilation tapes, before and after contacting the police. Celador and their editing company, Editworks, retained all the tapes during the case and reproduced all tapes for court.
In court, Smith confirmed that his company had previously produced a television programme involving witnesses about the case, for broadcast on ITV after the trial. This was subsequently broadcast on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
a month after the trial as Tonight With Trevor McDonald – Major Fraud, which was credited with over 17 million viewers. Two weeks later, the day after Major Fraud aired in the USA, the same channel broadcast another programme on the same topic entitled The Final Answer, which was credited with over 5 million viewers.
Verdict
The trial judge summed up the case by stating to the jury that the tapes and Whitehurst were the two pieces of "direct evidence" offered by the prosecution before adding that, "coincidences happen".The foreman at first told the judge that they thought Ingram and Tecwen to be guilty but Diana not. He was informed that since all three were co-defendants, this was not an acceptable conclusion. He then returned to the jury room and emerged some twenty minutes later saying that they now thought her guilty as well.
Immediately after the jury's verdict the judge sentenced the Ingrams to an 18 months imprisonment suspended for two years while Whittock received a 12 month suspended sentence
See also
- Martin FloodMartin FloodMartin Flood is an Australian quiz show contestant who competed in the show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and participated in the short-lived program The Master. Flood was an I.T. analyst for Westpac bank at the time of winning 'Millionaire'...
- Quiz show scandalsQuiz show scandalsThe American quiz show scandals of the 1950s were a series of revelations that contestants of several popular television quiz shows were secretly given assistance by the show's producers to arrange the outcome of a supposedly fair competition....
- Slumdog MillionaireSlumdog MillionaireSlumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup...
, a 2008 film with a similar concept to Ingram's story.