Army major 'was tense and unhappy after winning £1m on television quiz show'

An army Major appeared "tense and unhappy" even though he had just won £1m on the television quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionaire, a jury was told yesterday.

Eve Winstanley, a researcher on the programme who accompanied Major Charles Ingram, 39, and his wife, Diana, to the dressing room after he had been given the cheque, said Mrs Ingram appeared agitated and he said they wanted to be left alone.

The couple, of Easterton, Wiltshire, both deny cheating the programme out of its top prize in September 2001. Also on trial is Tecwen Whittock, 52, of Cardiff, the head of business studies at Pontypridd College, who denies the charge.

Counsel for the prosecution at Southwark Crown Court claim that Mr Whittock, who was also in the studio as a contestant, coughed strategically 19 times in order to prompt Major Ingram to give correct answers. He was the third person to win the £1m prize, which was withheld after production staff became suspicious.

Ms Winstanley said that although she saw the couple hugging each other, there was "not any real emotion''. "They didn't seem happy or anything else really,'' she said.

When she tried to lighten the atmosphere in the dressing room, the Major turned on her. "He ... raised his arms up in the air and said, 'Don't start, I have got things to do. You don't understand.' Then he told me to 'Get out','' she said. She heard raised voices behind the door. When she next saw them, Mrs Ingram, a 38-year-old nursery nurse, was "sitting on the chair looking very shaken and upset". Her husband was "again very tense and not very happy by the look of things".

Paul Smith, managing director of Celador Productions, said he was told of suspicions about the Major while the programme was still being taped. After viewing the recording twice that night and again the next day, the company decided to stop the show being broadcast and called in the police.

The trial continues.