A former church officer received a life sentence at an Oxford courtroom for murdering a university academic, but his conviction has been overturned by the Court of Appeal, though prosecutors may pursue a Supreme Court appeal.
Benjamin Field was sentenced to a minimum 36-year jail term in 2019 after being convicted of murdering 69-year-old Peter Farquhar in Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire.
The prosecution argued during the trial that Field had deceived Mr Farquhar into believing he was experiencing mental deterioration to gain access to his property and finances, secretly administering sedative drugs to the older man and spiking his whisky, in an attempt to make his 2015 death appear to be self-inflicted harm or an accident.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the case to the Court of Appeal the previous year, with Field’s legal team informing a March hearing that there was no proof Mr Farquhar had been coerced or deceived into consuming the whisky or medications.
Three appellate judges delivered their ruling on Thursday, overturning the conviction and ordering a fresh trial.
In delivering the judgment’s summary, Lord Justice Edis, sitting with Mr Justice Goose and Mr Justice Butcher, noted that the trial jury had received inadequate direction, and the guidance on reaching a verdict was flawed.
He observed that the fact the defendant secretly intended Mr Farquhar’s death did not alter the nature of the conduct, nor did it legally mean that Mr Farquhar’s decision to drink whisky was not free, deliberate and knowing.
He added that there was no evidence the defendant had supplied the alcohol.
The judge also noted that the directions effectively took away from the jury’s consideration the question of whether Mr Farquhar’s decision to consume the whisky was made of his own free will.
Lord Justice Edis said the Crown Prosecution Service could pursue this unusual case at the Supreme Court ahead of any retrial.
He said Field would remain in custody during any Supreme Court appeal.
Before his murder trial at Oxford Crown Court, Field pleaded guilty to two burglary charges and three fraud charges after fraudulently establishing romantic relationships with both Mr Farquhar and his neighbour, pensioner Ann Moore-Martin, as part of a scheme to persuade them to alter their wills.
The jury were informed that Field participated in a wedding ceremony with gay Mr Farquhar while simultaneously conducting several girlfriend relationships and an involvement with Ms Moore-Martin.
The trial heard that the son of a Baptist minister had manipulated the deeply devout retired head teacher, who died from natural causes in May 2017, by writing messages on her mirrors supposedly from God.
Benjamin Field, of Wellingborough Road, Olney, Buckinghamshire, was subsequently found guilty of Mr Farquhar’s murder but cleared of conspiracy or attempted murder charges concerning Ms Moore-Martin, and acquitted of possessing an article for fraud.
Alongside his life sentence, he received a concurrent 16-year term for the fraud and burglary crimes.
The case later inspired a BBC drama entitled The Sixth Commandment, starring Timothy Spall and Eanna Hardwicke.
Field’s 2021 bid to overturn his conviction was unsuccessful, but his legal representatives argued at a recent London hearing that the earlier Court of Appeal ruling wrongly applied legal principles due to moral objection.
David Jeremy KC, acting for Field, argued that his client would only have been responsible for causing Mr Farquhar’s death if he had forced Mr Farquhar to consume whisky or medication that was not fully voluntary.
He argued that Mr Farquhar was aware of what was being given to him and aware of who was giving it, comparing it to handing someone their car keys to cause them to drive.
The Crown Prosecution Service opposed the appeal, with David Perry KC arguing that Field was more than simply watching Mr Farquhar die by his own hand.
He persistently contributed to bringing about the death both in practice and in law, the barrister argued.