Milton Keynes man once dubbed one of UK's most evil killers has his murder conviction totally quashed on appeal
A former churchwarden jailed for 36 years for murdering a gentleman scholar has had his conviction quashed at his second attempt at appeal.
Benjamin Field was 28 when he was convicted seven years ago for the murder of Peter Farquhar, a 69-year-old Christian and retired teacher he had duped into having a sexual relationship and even a gay ‘marriage’ with him.
The case prompted one of the biggest Thames Valley Police investigations of all time and was even the subject of a BBC drama called The Sixth Commandment, starring Timothy Spall, Anne Reid and Eanna Hardwicke.
At the time, the court heard Field’s motive was to successfully persuade Mr Farquar to change his will in his favour so he could inherit his money.
He was said to have spiked the pensioner’s food and drinks with drugs, causing him to fear he was losing his mind, until he died at his Maids Moreton home.in October 2015.
Afterwards Field, who is from Olney, turned his attention to Mr Farquar’s neighbour, elderly spinster Ann Moore-Martin, becoming her lover and writing messages purporting to be from God on her mirror until she died 18 months later at the age of 83.
He was cleared of conspiracy to murder Miss Moore-Martin but admitted two counts of burglary and three of fraud.
In 2019, Field was jailed for at least 36 years, with the judge Mr Justice Sweeney saying he had no doubt the young man had Dissocial (Psychopathic) Personality Disorder resulting in a lack of empathy, a callous lack of concern for the feelings of others and an incapacity to experience guilt.
In sentencing him at the time, the judge said: “I have no doubt that you are a dangerous offender. In that regard, the public will be protected from you by the sentence of life imprisonment that I must, and do now, impose upon you.”
But today (Thursday April 16) the new Court of Appeal verdict means that Field could walk free from prison or face a retrial.
His lawyer had told the appeal hearing last month there was no evidence that Mr Farquhar was forced or deceived into taking the whisky or medication that ultimately led to his death..
As a result, three senior judges quashed Field's conviction, saying the jurors at trial had "not been properly directed" at the original trial and some of the directions given to them were defective.
They have directed a retrial but stated that the Crown Prosecution Service should take the "unusual case" to the Supreme Court before it takes place.
The appeal case had largely centred around whether or not Field had forced Mr Farquhar to drink the whisky that ultimately led to his death from alcohol poisoning.
Appeal judge Lord Justice Edis concluded: "The fact that the appellant secretly intended that Mr Farquhar should die did not change the act or, in law, mean that Mr Farquhar's decision to drink whisky was not free, deliberate and informed.”
He added: "There was no evidence that the appellant had 'administered' the alcohol...The directions effectively withdrew from the jury the question of whether Mr Farquhar's decision to drink the whisky had been voluntary."
Field had previously attempted to appeal against his conviction in 2021, but lost his case. In the fresh appeal, he blamed the lack of success on the court’s “moral disapproval”.
In the new appeal, he claimed the law due to "moral disapproval".
A retrial is possible but not automatic when a conviction is quashed, particularly in serious cases where the Court of Appeal deems it in the interests of justice
The court can order a retrial if new evidence makes the original conviction unsafe or if legal errors occurred during the first trial.