Quiz show defendants 'just anoraks'

Two defendants accused of helping an Army major cheat his way to the jackpot on Who Wants to be a Millionaire were just quiz show "anoraks", counsel claimed yesterday.

In closing speeches at Southwark Crown Court, Adrian Redgrave, representing Diana Ingram, rejected any suggestion that she and Tecwen Whittock had been planning to defraud Celador, the maker of the ITV show.

Telephone records produced during the four-week trial showed Mr Whittock and Mrs Ingram had been speaking to one another days before Mrs Ingram's husband, Major Charles Ingram, appeared on the programme on 10 September 2001. Mr Redgrave denied there was anything suspicious about the phone calls. Mrs Ingram and Mr Whittock shared an interest in quiz shows, and Mrs Ingram was writing a book on the subject, he told the jury. The calls proved only that "two anoraks [had been] talking to one another", he said. "Why has it got to be something sinister?"

The Crown has alleged that Major Ingram relied on 19 "strategic" coughs from Mr Whittock, who was in the audience, to guide him to the £1m top prize. Major and Mrs Ingram, both 39, from Easterton, Wiltshire, and Mr Whittock, 53, from Whitchurch, Cardiff, deny a charge of procuring a valuable security by deception.

Sonia Woodley QC, for Major Ingram, described the Royal Engineers Officer as a hard-working soldier and law-abiding citizen. She urged the jury to consider the "nature of the man" and highlighted evidence from colleagues who described him as having "high moral standards".

The trial is expected to conclude next week.