Charles Ingram denies all the charges

If he had, he would have been refused home contents insurance, an insurance expert told the jury.

Mr Ingram, at the centre of the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? fraud trial this year, is accused of seven charges of deception in which he is alleged to have given false details when taking out two home insurance policies.

On Monday, Judge Samuel Wiggs told the jury they would almost certainly recognise Mr Ingram from the Millionaire case, but said it was "vital" they try him "only on the allegations he faces in this court".

Denial

Mr Ingram, 39, of Easterton, Wiltshire, denies two charges of deception by failing to disclose claims made in the preceding three years when taking out two consecutive insurance policies.

He also denies five charges of deception by making claims totalling �32,000 on the policies.

There is no allegation that the losses claimed for in the claims were not genuine.

Mr Ingram first took out a policy with Norwich Union in 1986. Between 1991 and 1997 he made seven claims, four of which occurred in the final three years of the policy.

Repayment

When he applied to take out a new policy in 1997 with Zurich Municipal, trading as Eagle Star, he was asked to declare all claims in the previous three years.

The court heard he did not provide details of all relevant claims.

Sally-Anne West, from Zurich Municipal, said that, if Mr Ingram had declared all his claims, the company would not have offered him a policy.

Mr Ingram then went on to make four claims with Zurich between 1998 and 2000.

Mrs West said that after Mr Ingram's arrest in 2001, Zurich wrote to him, asking for repayment of these claims minus the amount of premiums he had paid.

The trial continues.