Church warden jailed for life over murder of university lecturer Peter Farquhar has conviction quashed
A man who was jailed for life over the 2019 murder of university lecturer Peter Farquhar has had his conviction quashed at the Court of Appeal.
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Benjamin Field, now 34, was a church warden at the time of Mr Farquhar's death and was handed a life sentence after prosecutors said the murder took place in order to inherit his house and money.
On Thursday, three senior judges at the Court of Appeal quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial.
Field, who was 28 at the time of Mr Field's death in 2019, was given a life term with a minimum term of 36 years for killing Peter Farquhar, 69 following a campaign of physical and mental torture.
Detectives branded Field a psychopath and said he would have posed an “ongoing danger to society” had he not been stopped.
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Prosecutors told Field’s trial that he had driven Mr Farquhar to think he was losing his mind in order to inherit his house and money, secretly giving the pensioner tranquilliser drugs and spiking his whisky in the hope that his death in 2015 would look like suicide or an accident.
It was only when Field began targeting Mr Farquhar's neighbour, Ann Moore-Martin, 83, that his scheme began to unravel.
The case was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission last year, with Field’s lawyers telling a hearing in March that there was “no evidence” that Mr Farquhar was “forced or deceived” into taking the whisky or medication.
Lord Justice Edis, sitting with Mr Justice Goose and Mr Justice Butcher, also said that they would allow the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to take the “unusual case” to the Supreme Court before any retrial takes place.
The court heard at the time how Mr Field wrote messages on the deeply religious retired headteacher's mirrors purporting to be from God.
Field admitted fraudulently being in relationships with the two pensioners as part of his plan to get them to change their wills.Mr Farquhar, who was torn about his sexuality because of his religion, died in October 2015 while Miss Moore-Martin died in May 2017 from natural causes.
Field even underwent a homosexual “betrothal” ceremony with Mr Farquhar while also having a string of girlfriends, and was in a sexual relationship with Miss Moore-Martin.
Reading a summary of their ruling, Lord Justice Edis, sitting with Mr Justice Goose and Mr Justice Butcher, said the jurors at trial had “not been properly directed” and the directions given to them on how to reach a verdict were “defective”.
He said: “The directions effectively withdrew from the jury the question of whether Mr Farquhar’s decision to drink the whisky had been voluntary.”Lord Justice Edis also said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) could take the “unusual case” to the Supreme Court before any retrial.
The judge added that Field will remain in prison “for so long as the appeal (to the Supreme Court) is pending”.