‘I gaslit him, however I did not commit homicide’: Churchwarden convicted of ‘Sixth Commandment’ killing of scholar protests his innocence amid recent bid for freedom

A churchwarden convicted of killing a scholar is protesting his innocence amid a fresh bid for freedom.

Benjamin Field, 35, is serving a life sentence for the murder of Peter Farquhar, 69, after ‘gaslighting’ him in a plot to inherit his fortune.

The author was found dead in his home in the Buckinghamshire village of Maids Moreton in October 2015, with a bottle of 60 proof whisky beside him, in a crime which inspired BBC series Sixth Commandment starring Timothy Spall.

Field was accused of giving Mr Farquhar the alcohol and/or sleeping pills called Dalmane so he suffered what appeared to be an ‘alcoholic’s death,’ leaving him to benefit from his will after convincing him to change it.

During the trial, he admitted he was a ‘snake talker’ who had duped the scholar into a fake relationship but denied killing him.

Field was jailed for life at Oxford Crown Court in August 2019, with a minimum of 36 years to serve behind bars before he could apply for parole.

But now the case has been referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) after Field’s lawyers claimed a judge provided incorrect guidance to the jury at the original trial.

Led by David Jeremy KC, they argue case law has changed in the seven years since Field was convicted and that cases of deception – particularly those in sexual offence trials – had recently ended up ruling in the defendant’s favour.

Mr Justice Sweeney did not ask the jury in 2019 to decide whether the accused had actually caused Mr Farquhar to drink the whisky or take the Dalmane.

They simply decided that Field had handed the victim these substances and therefore ’caused’ his death. 

The ‘proximate cause’ of Mr Farquhar’s death was his ‘ingestion’ of whisky and/or Dalmane, ‘not the act of giving those substances to him,’ the barrister told the Court of Appeal, which saw Field appear via video link from Durham’s HMP Frankland.

‘To have caused Mr Farquhar to have ingested whisky and/or Dalmane, Field would have had to have forced or threatened Mr Farquhar to have done so, or deceived him as to what he was ingesting,’ he added.

‘Was there evidence that, on that night, Field caused him to ingest whisky and/or Dalmane, and that it wasn’t fully voluntary? The answer to that question is “no”.

‘His giving of whisky and/or Dalmane to Mr Farquhar could not have caused him to ingest it any more than it could have caused Mr Farquhar to drive his car had Field handed him his car keys.’

Mr Jeremy continued: ‘There was a failure by the prosecution to identify correctly the act that caused Mr Farquhar’s death and therefore, as a consequence, to identify what the prosecution had to prove.

‘Everything that has gone wrong in the case stems from that failure. It led to the misdirection of the jury.

‘The result was that Field was convicted of causing the death of Mr Farquhar by whisky and/or Dalmane when the evidence didn’t prove that he had done so.

‘He was convicted of something which on the evidence he simply didn’t do.’

The barrister said it was ‘impossible’ for Field to have caused Mr Farquhar to ‘ingest’ the substances just by giving them to him.

The prosecution is challenging the appeal, urging three senior judges led by Lord Justice Edis to rule the conviction was safe and ensure Field is not released. 

They argue the jury was entitled to find that Field providing Mr Farquhar the substances started a ‘chain of causation’ which ended up killing the older man. 

During the original trial, the crown court heard university lecturer Mr Farquhar had been duped into a fake relationship and even gone through a ‘betrothal’ ceremony with Field.

The court heard Field carried out a sustained ‘gaslighting’ plot aimed at making Mr Farquhar question his sanity, while giving him sleeping tablets and alcohol, when Mr Farquhar was trying to abstain.

Mr Farquhar’s lifeless body was discovered at his home in October 2015. An initial post-mortem put his death down to alcohol, but a later one also found the sleeping medication, which should not be taken with alcohol, in his bloodstream.

Prior to his death, the University of Buckingham lecturer had published three novels and even dedicated the final book to Field, who went on to deliver the eulogy at his funeral.

A post-mortem later put his death down to ‘acute alcohol toxicity.’ 

Field’s crimes only came to light after he turned his attention to Mr Farquhar’s neighbour, Ann Moore-Martin, in the village of Maids Moreton.

He gaslighted Ms Moore-Martin, a deeply religious retired headteacher, by writing messages on her mirrors purporting to be from God.

Field had admitted to fraudulently being in relationships with the pensioners as part of his plan to get them to change their wills.

He accepted he had ‘psychologically manipulated’ the retired teachers but denied any involvement in their deaths.

He swindled Ms Moore-Martin out of £4,000 to buy a car and £27,000 for a dialysis machine, but was acquitted of her attempted murder.

He has also paid out £124,665.03 ‘distributed as part of the agreed order to the victims in this case’ from selling a flat which he bought with his victims’ savings.

Prosecutors said Field had a ‘profound fascination in controlling and manipulating and humiliating and killing’ and alleged he had plotted his crimes with his friend, failed magician Martyn Smith, 33. 

Field first appealed his conviction in 2021 and failed, before a bid to reopen the challenge was refused by the Court of Appeal in 2022. 

Applications to the Supreme Court followed, before the CCRC became involved, referring the case back to appeal judges for a hearing this week.

He appeared via a video link, wearing glasses and a grey T-shirt, while he made notes on a pad of paper.

The judges are set to reserve their judgment on the appeal until a later date.