Mr and Mrs Ingram deny the charges

Major Charles Ingram said the first he heard of the man who allegedly prompted him to choose the correct answers by coughing was in a newspaper article after his winning cheque was stopped.

Mr Ingram told Southwark Crown Court he had not known his wife Diana had spoken to college lecturer Tecwen Whittock on the phone in the months leading up to his appearance on the quiz show in September 2001.

Mr Ingram, his wife and Mr Whittock deny conspiracy to dishonestly procure the execution of a valuable security, namely the quiz show's �1m jackpot prize.

The Royal Engineers officer said: "With the exception of court appearances I have never met Mr Tecwen Whittock."

Asked by QC Sonia Woodley whether his wife had told him about her phone conversations with Mr Whittock, he replied: "No, she did not tell me and I did not know that was happening."

The prosecution claims Mr Whittock, 53, used "particular" coughs to guide Mr Ingram, 39, from Easterton, Wiltshire, to most of the correct answers.

Contestants' debts

It has also been claimed Mr Ingram and his wife may have considered cheating by using an accomplice to signal a correct answer using four pagers hidden in a contestant's clothing.

Nicholas Hilliard, prosecuting has said police found a large number of numeric messages had been sent to pagers from the couple's phones.

But asked if he had hidden pagers in his clothing, Mr Ingram said: "It's absolute rot, absolute rubbish."

Earlier the prosecution told the court Mr and Mrs Ingram had credit card and loan account debts of more than �52,000 when the major appeared on the show.

But Mr Ingram said that figure was nearer to �28,000 as he had assets of �24,000.

This included �10,000 left of his wife's �32,000 previous winnings from the same show.

The rest of that money had been spent on holidays, a grandfather clock and other expenses.

Mr Whittock had �20,000 credit card debts

He said he had since surrendered two savings plans and his father had remortgaged his house to pay for a civil action against the programme's producers.

The major said he has three daughters between seven and 12, one is dyslexic and another has a mental disability.

A police investigation showed Mr Whittock had debts of �37,341.81 - �20,000 of which was on a credit card.

The court has already been told the lecturer had a �100,000 mortgage on a �200,000 property and had spent �40,000 on private schooling fees for three of his four children.

He had �2,000 in an HSBC account in September 2001 and a �90,000 house left by his late mother-in-law.

Mr Ingram was asked what it was like to be a contestant on the quiz show.

He said: "The external influences on you, you don't notice very much, you are cocooned in the middle of the studio".

The trial was adjourned until Thursday.