Millionaire cheat gets cheque

In the money: Tecwen Whittock can bank his £1,000 winnings

The academic convicted of the "coded coughs" conspiracy to cheat the quiz programme Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? out of £1m has won back his contestant's souvenir winnings cheque.

Former business studies lecturer Tecwen Whittock can finally frame the cheque for £1,000 he was handed by the ITV 1 show's host Chris Tarrant.

Police seized the cheque - and a letter to him from Tarrant thanking him for being a "good sport" - when they suspected he was the accomplice who helped Major Charles Ingram to falsely claim the jackpot prize.

Mr Whittock, who had already banked the money, landed a £10,000 fine and £7,500 costs as well as a 12-month suspended sentence for his part in the scam, following a court case.

I won the money fair and square Tecwen Whittock

He resigned from his £30,000-a-year job as a lecturer in Pontypridd within days of the guilty verdict against him, Major Ingram, and his wife, Diana, in April.

The trio had denied a charge of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception - £1m on 10 September 2001.

The father-of-four had landed one of the smaller prizes during his own appearance on the show but also used his knowledge to cough at the right answers to help Major Ingram trick his way to the big money.

Writing a book

The jury at London's Southwark Crown Court were told the 53-year-old owed more than £37,000, with one credit card bill for £20,000.

They were also heard he had a £100,000 mortgage and had spent £40,000 on private education for three of his children.

He has also cut the sale price of his Cardiff, south Wales, bungalow by £25,000, to £285,000.

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC spared the three defendants jail because they had young families.

Since the verdict, Mr Whittock - who is barred by law from making a profit from his crime - has begun a new career as an after-dinner speaker and is said to be writing a book giving his version of events.

But speaking on Friday, he dismissed claims that he is struggling to make ends meet.

He said: "I won the money fair and square and am happy that the police have returned the cheque.

"I put my house up for sale about a month ago but it is a soft market at the moment.

Website

"But I could sit here for the next year or two quite easily without any money problems.

"But my pension is not due to start until I am 60 and obviously I have got to find alternative sources of income until then.

"If I wanted to I could go and sign on unemployed, but I have worked since I left university and I have never been unemployed."

A website aimed at promoting him as a potential celebrity has published the contents of the letter to him from Chris Tarrant.