Charles Ingram

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Charles Ingram (born 6 August 1963) is a former British Army major and novelist, who made headlines in the United Kingdom when he was accused of cheating on the television show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. Despite being convicted of deception, Ingram maintains that he did not cheat.

He is married to Diana Ingram, who has since participated in other television game/reality shows, including The Weakest Link and Hell's Kitchen.

Contents 1 Education and career 2 The Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? affair 2.1 Evidence 2.1.1 The tapes 2.1.2 Graham Whitehurst 2.1.3 Tecwen Whittock 2.1.4 After the show 2.1.5 Verdict 2.2 Other details 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Education and career

Charles Ingram went to Oswestry School and obtained a BSc in Civil Engineering from Kingston Polytechnic, an MSc in Corporate Management from Cranfield University, Chartered membership of the Institute of Personnel and Development, membership of the Chartered Management Institute, membership of the Association for Project Management, membership of the Society of Authors, and membership of Mensa. 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 resigned from the Army in 2003 to become a novelist.

[edit] The Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? affair

The ITV 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. Ingram won the £1,000,000 prize but the payout was suspended when he was accused of cheating by having an accomplice cough when he read out the correct answers. Following a trial at Southwark Crown Court lasting seven 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 Ingram, his wife Diana Ingram and Tecwen Whittock were convicted by a majority verdict of "procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception" on 7 April 2003.^[1]

On the day of the verdict, the Ingrams were each given 18-month prison sentences suspended for two years, 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 orders, Charles £40,000 and Diana £25,000.

The Army Board invited Major Ingram to resign his commission. He retired on 19 August 2003 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.^[2] 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.^[3] 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 [1] written by James Plaskett in favour of the innocence of Charles 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 also prompted a reconsideration of the case in The Guardian Comment is free blog on 17 July 2006 from an initially sceptical Jon Ronson.[2]

Charles and Diana Ingram declared bankruptcy in October 2004.^[4] Charles Ingram is now a novelist and has written two novels, The Network, published on 27 April 2006 and, Deep Siege, published on 8 October 2007. His third book set to be published in October 2008, Major Injustice, is a biography of his Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? experience.

[edit] Evidence

[edit] The tapes

A transcript of the video tape played in court can be found at [3]. In court Ingram claimed the video tape was 'unrepresentative of what I heard'; indeed, he continues to assert that it was 'unfairly manipulated'. 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'. Tarrant also denied hearing any coughing, claiming he was too busy to notice.^[5]

[edit] Graham Whitehurst

Whitehurst, another contestant who has appeared on the show as a Fastest Finger First contestant on four occasions, contacted Celador a week after the show, to share with them his concerns about Ingram's peculiar performance. Celador told him they were already investigating concerns about cheating, and that they were considering the possibility of coughing as a source of assistance. Whitehurst told Celador he saw Whittock coughing. Celador's MD, Paul Smith, advised Whitehurst to contact the police if he had concerns. Instead, Whitehurst contacted The Sun newspaper. Three days later, after The Sun had printed the exclusive about the allegation, Whitehurst, who had by now approached the police as 'Horace' via email, spoke to them for the first time. Graham [aka Larry] Whitehurst told police during interview that he saw another contestant, Whittock, cough once during the last question and that he thought it might have helped Ingram.

Over the next eighteen months, it transpired that Whitehurst had met face-to-face with Celador on at least four separate occasions between September 2001 and the trial in March 2003, including on one occasion with their solicitors. In court, Whitehurst was adamant that he had known the answers to Ingram's questions, and that he had been able to anticipate coughing from an early stage on the night, and that he was entirely convinced coughing had helped Ingram. Whitehurst did not immediately mention the cheating that evening in the studio, bar, or elsewhere, for he described himself in court as 'extremely angry'.^{[citation needed]} Also, when 'watching Mr Whittock intently from early on', as he described his focus during the recording on Whittock in court, he did not notice Whittock say 'No' on 'Berlin' or see him cough more than once during the £1M question when five of nineteen 'significant coughs' were alleged by the prosecutor to have been made by Whittock.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Tecwen Whittock

Whittock has suffered from a persistent cough for his entire life ^[6] 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.^[7] However, during the trial the jury heard evidence that once Whittock himself was picked to sit in the hot seat, his throat problems disappeared.^[7] Whittock later testified that he drank several bottles of water before he went in front of the cameras.^[8] 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 Ambassadors in a hand-written general knowledge book at his home, along with the answer to question number 10 regarding the album, Born to Do It.^[7]

Davis, 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 said in court that 'you do not cough into someone's face' [4]. Despite searching for any form of assistance during the recording Davis did not notice the word 'no' or deduce that coughing was assisting Ingram.

During the trial, Whittock portrayed himself as a, 'serial quiz show loser'^[9] However, Whittock twice won the Wales heat of Brain of Britain (on BBC Radio 4) and in one semi-final was only narrowly beaten into runner-up spot by quiz legend Daphne Fowler.

[edit] After the show

Researcher Eve Winstanley testified in court that Mr. Ingram seemed very "unhappy" for someone who had just won over a million pounds.^[10] Tarrant, who drank champagne with the Ingrams in their dressing room, said he was convinced the major was genuine when he signed the £1 million cheque. "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."^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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 MacDonald - Major Fraud', which was credited with over 17 million viewers. Two weeks later the same programme broadcast another show entitled 'The Final Answer', which was credited with over 5 million viewers.

[edit] Verdict

The trial judge summed up the case by stating to the jury that the tapes and Mr Whitehurst were the two pieces of 'direct evidence' offered by the prosecution before adding that, 'coincidences happen'. Immediately after the jury's verdict the judge sentenced the three defendants, describing the act as a 'schoolboy prank'.

[edit] Other details

Ingram said his discursive and apparently indecisive manner when answering questions was due to nervousness and for effect. 'There was a degree of wishing to be good on television and be a bit dramatic. What I said, thinking out loud, and what I actually meant were not the same thing. It was a very stressful period.'^{[citation needed]}

The producer and decision-maker on the night, David Briggs, maintained a low profile throughout the case and did not testify in court. Almost all Celador employees present on the night, who made up most of the prosecution witnesses, said they became suspicious early on during the second night as Ingram's performance on the first night had confirmed their pre-show beliefs that he was unintelligent and would not last long. In court, Tarrant described him as 'Tim nice but dim'.^{[citation needed]} To refute the allegations, Ingram took an invigilated IQ test shortly before the trial, and was found to have an IQ that lies within the top two per cent of the population (it allowed him to join Mensa). Ingram, who is highly qualified, has repeatedly suggested that success on the show is more about knowledge than intelligence.^{[citation needed]}

It was suggested in the media that Ingram took a considerable amount of time on the second night - on one question 'half an hour' - to answer each of the questions. Such was the rumour-mill, The Sun reported he had been in the hot seat for three hours on the second night. The Special Enquiry Team of New Scotland Yard were reportedly keen to learn whether this may have been a delaying tactic to allow someone outside the studio to look up the questions on a computer or the internet, before sending a text message to a mobile phone held by an audience member. The audience member would then cough corresponding to one of the four options.^{[citation needed]}

In fact, and including any delay caused by the host who does much of the talking and controls the quiz, the time between the questions given (flashed-up on screen) and answers accepted (green light highlighting correct answer) on the night alleged cheating took place were as follows:

• Q8. 1 minute 1 second.
• Q9. 48 seconds.
• Q10. 4 minutes 11 seconds (Used 50:50 lifeline).
• Q11. 2 minutes 6 seconds.
• Q12. 1 minute 47 seconds.
• Q13. 1 minute 4 seconds.
• Q14. 4 minutes 6 seconds.
• Q15. 5 minutes 21 seconds.

A subjective analysis of the uncut recording broadcast on ITV2 shows that of the above time, Ingram was responsible for considerably less than ten minutes. On the first night Ingram played, an earlier contestant took 24 minutes on one answer.[5]

Celador used several security measure to prevent someone from cheating during the show. There is one camera trained on the contestant's face to make sure they are not looking for signals from the audience. Another camera focuses on friends and relatives in the audience to see if they make any signals towards the contestant. Additionally, players were always positioned with their backs to any supporters in the audience.^[11]

Ingram has not been awarded the prize, declaring that he did not cheat during the show.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Official Website of Charles Ingram
• The Official Website of Diana Ingram
• Essay at Portia.org
• Essay at Justjustice.org