Court of Appeal Overturns Murder Conviction of Benjamin Field

Peter Farquhar died in October 2015 in Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire, where his cleaner found him dead in his living room with a half-empty bottle of whisky nearby. The coroner initially concluded he died of acute alcohol intoxication. Prosecutors said Benjamin Field seduced Peter Farquhar and spiked his drinks to make him feel like he was losing his mind. The court heard that Farquhar's drinks were spiked with bioethanol and poteen, and his food was laced with drugs. Benjamin Field admitted to the court that he drugged Peter Farquhar to torment him. Prosecutors argued that Field suffocated Farquhar while he was too weak to resist and left a half-empty whisky bottle to make it seem like he drank himself to death.

Before his death, Peter Farquhar changed his will to give Benjamin Field a life interest in his house. When the house was sold, Field split the proceeds with Farquhar's brother. A similar pattern emerged with Ann Moore-Martin, who lived three doors down from Farquhar and died of natural causes in a care home in 2017. Field moved in with Moore-Martin before Farquhar's death. Benjamin Field told the court he moved in with Ann Moore-Martin because he saw her as someone he could benefit from. He gave her items like a framed picture of his face, and she gave him thousands of pounds for a new car. Field wrote messages on Moore-Martin's mirror hoping she would believe they were from God, some telling her to leave her house to him.

In 2017, Ann Moore-Martin confided in her niece about her relationship with Benjamin Field, starting a police investigation. She reversed her will to benefit her family and not Field before she died. Peter Farquhar's body was exhumed 19 months after his death once police established a link between Field, Moore-Martin, and Farquhar. A second post-mortem examination established Farquhar had consumed less alcohol than previously thought and had sedatives in his system. Benjamin Field admitted starting fake relationships with the pensioners as part of a plot to get them to change their wills, but denied involvement in their deaths. Benjamin Field could face a retrial.