A church warden who was jailed for life for the murder of a university lecturer has had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal, which ordered a retrial. Benjamin Field, 34, was sentenced to at least 36 years in 2019 for killing 69-year-old Peter Farquhar in Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire.
The prosecution had argued that Field manipulated Farquhar into changing his will and then killed him by giving him tranquillisers and spiking his whisky, making it appear he had drunk himself to death. However, on Thursday, Lord Justice Edis, sitting with Mr Justice Goose and Mr Justice Butcher, ruled that the jury had been improperly directed, effectively removing the question of whether Farquhar's decision to drink the whisky was voluntary.
In the written judgment, Edis stated there was no evidence Field administered the whisky, and the jury was not directed to decide on a direct causal link between Field's deception and Farquhar's decision to drink. The directions also allowed for conviction on the basis of smothering without sufficient evidence.
Before his murder trial, Field admitted two counts of burglary and three of fraud for entering relationships with Farquhar and his 83-year-old neighbour, Ann Moore-Martin, as part of a plan to change their wills. He was cleared of conspiring or attempting to murder Moore-Martin.
The Crown Prosecution Service may take the case to the Supreme Court before any retrial, and Field remains in prison pending any such appeal. The case was the subject of a BBC drama, The Sixth Commandment, broadcast in 2023.
