Cough code gives away cheat in Millionaire

‘‘One way of increasing your chances of winning would be if you could set up some form of signal from someone else,’’ prosecutor Nicholas Hilliard told the jury at London’s Southwark Crown Court .

Ingram, 39, of the Royal Engineers, his wife Diana, 38, and college lecturer Tecwen Whittock, 53, deny the charges.

The jury was shown unedited footage of the Major’s appearance on the quiz, recorded in September 2001 but never broadcast.

The prosecution said 19 coughs that could be heard on the tape came from the direction of Whittock — who was another contestant waiting for the chance to play — at times when Ingram was musing out loud over which of the four possible answers he should choose.

The jury were told how on the question that won Ingram a million pounds —the correct name for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros — coughs were heard when Ingram mentioned the correct answer, a googol. ‘‘I think it is a nanomole but it could be a gigabite…I don’t think I have heard of a googol,’’ Ingram said, just before coughing was heard on the tape. He then chose a googol.

The prosecution said calls had been made between the Ingrams and Whittock months before the show. But Charles Ingram denies contact with Whittock. (Reuters)