He tried to sell two tickets for today’s women’s final for a starting price of £200 on the internet auction site. The All England Club, which has been cracking down on touts, ordered him to return the tickets or face the threat of legal action.

About £350,000 of Wimbledon black market tickets are estimated to have been sold before the championships began.

Mr Ingram, 41, and his wife were convicted of deception after he appeared on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? He later resigned from the Army. An accomplice had sat in the audience, using coughs to indicate the answers.

Mr Ingram had won a pair of Centre Court seats with a face value of about £150 in the public ballot, but was one of about 30 people found breaking the club’s regulations by trying to sell on the tickets.

The ruling bodies of tennis, football, cricket and rugby have lobbied the Government to make it illegal to resell allocated tickets for events.

Mr Ingram, who declared himself bankrupt last year, began advertising the tickets on Tuesday and was offered a bid in three hours. Shortly after that he was contacted by the All England Club, who said the tickets had been cancelled.

Mr Ingram admitted having tried to sell the tickets and said they were his mother’s, but claimed not to have realised that he was breaking All England Club rules.

He accused the club of underhand tactics and of pretending to buy the tickets from him by using a false identity. “I am disgusted,” he said. “My mother won the tickets in the ballot but asked me if I could sell them on eBay for her because she wanted to go to her grandson’s sports day. Neither of us knew anything about them being non-transferable.”

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