Appeal Launched After Benjamin Field Murder Conviction Overturned

A former church warden who grew up in Market Harborough has appeared at the Supreme Court as prosecutors challenge the decision to quash his murder conviction.

Benjamin Field, 35, was jailed for life in 2019, with a minimum term of 36 years, after being found guilty of murdering 69-year-old university lecturer Peter Farquhar at his home in Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire.

The Crown Prosecution Service appealed after the Court of Appeal overturned Field’s conviction in April this year and ordered a retrial.

The case centres on the legal question of causation — whether Field could be held responsible for Mr Farquhar’s death if he had voluntarily consumed whisky, potentially containing a sedative, without knowing it was allegedly intended to kill him.

Ben Field

At the hearing, the CPS argued that Field would not be legally responsible only if Mr Farquhar had agreed to the plan knowing it was intended to cause his death. Its barrister said that if Field had secretly administered drugs or misled Mr Farquhar about what he was drinking, there would be no dispute over the legal responsibility for the death.

Field’s barrister argued that giving Mr Farquhar whisky or the sedative Dalmane was not, in itself, capable of being a legally effective cause of death. He said Mr Farquhar had chosen to drink voluntarily, knowing what he was drinking and what he was doing.

The Supreme Court was also asked to consider whether the Court of Appeal had correctly applied the law on causation and whether an earlier legal ruling should be reconsidered.

The original prosecution case was that Field, who went to primary school in Market Harborough, had pretended to be in a loving relationship with Mr Farquhar, manipulated him into changing his will and secretly drugged him, with the aim of inheriting his estate. Field was convicted of murder in 2019.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction after finding that the jury had not been correctly directed on the legal test for causation. The Criminal Cases Review Commission had referred the case back to the court over concerns about those directions.

Five Supreme Court justices heard arguments from both sides yesterday. The court has reserved its decision, which will be delivered at a later date.

The case was one of the inspirations for the BBC drama The Sixth Commandment.