Millionaire jury considers verdict

Millionaire jury considers verdict

Mr Ingram and his wife Diana deny cheating

The jury in the trial of an Army major accused of cheating on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is considering its verdict for a third day.

Major Charles Ingram and his wife Diana, both 39, are accused of cheating with the help of deliberately timed coughs by college lecturer Tecwen Whittock.

All three deny "procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception" - namely £1m on 10 September 2001.

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC told the jury at Southwark Crown Court on Monday he would accept a majority verdict of 10 to one, rather than a unanimous one.

'Coughs genuine'

Only 11 jurors are judging the case, after one of them was dismissed on Thursday for undisclosed legal reasons.

The prosecution had contended Mr Whittock, 53, from Cardiff, a "fastest finger first" contestant at the time, had used a series of coughs to guide Mr Ingram to most of the right answers.

The officer's wife was accused of helping to set up the alleged fraud.

But the officer and his wife, of High Street, Easterton, Wiltshire, have both insisted he won the £1m prize money fairly.

Mr Whittock, who is head of business studies at Pontypridd College, south Wales, has told the court his coughs were genuine and random and had nothing to do with the officer's answers.