Ex-Church Warden Launches New Bid For Freedom

A former churchwarden who grew up in Market Harborough has launched a fresh appeal against his life sentence for the murder of a pensioner. 

Benjamin Field, 35, was jailed in 2019 for killing Peter Farquhar, 69, in Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire, following a campaign of physical and mental abuse.

He was told he would serve  a minimum term of 36 years after a jury accepted that he had driven the pensioner to think he was losing his mind in order to inherit his house and money.

The prosecution case at trial was that Field secretly gave Mr Farquhar tranquiliser drugs and spiked his whisky, hoping that his eventual death would look like suicide or an accident.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the case to the Court of Appeal, stating the conviction may be “unsafe.”

Benjamin Field Pic: Thames Valley Police

Field’s lawyers argue the trial judge misdirected the jury on the question of causation, claiming he was convicted of a murder he “simply didn’t do.”

The appeal centers on whether Field actually caused Farquhar to ingest alcohol and the sleeping pill Dalmane, or whether the victim’s actions were voluntary.

Benjamin Field (right) was jailed for the murder of Peter Farquhar (left)  Pic: Thames Valley Police

The prosecution contends that Field’s provision of substances set in motion a chain of events leading to Farquhar’s death, which the jury was entitled to consider.

Field appeared via video link from HMP Frankland, and the Court of Appeal has reserved judgment.

A decision will be announced at a later date.

The case inspired the 2023 BBC drama The Sixth Commandment, starring Timothy Spall as Farquhar and Field previously lost an appeal to overturn his murder conviction in 2021.