The Churchwarden Killer
TEN YEARS AGO, BENJAMIN FIELD SEDUCED A LONELY PENSIONER – AND THEN KILLED HIM
Peter Farquhar had longed for love for most of his life. Described by friends as an “intelligent and deeply Christian” man, the 65-yearold author and lecturer dreamt of meeting someone special and having his feelings reciprocated. But he had long struggled with a sexuality at odds with his religious beliefs, and was said to be “lonely in an emotional sense”. That was until he met Benjamin Field in April 2011. However, it was to be a meeting that would have profound consequences, as criminologist Professor David Wilson – who has written a new book about the case, called A Plot To Kill – knows well. Peter was teaching literature at the University of Buckingham, and Field, then 20, was one of his undergraduate students. One day, Peter invited his students back to his house in Maids Moreton for lunch after a trip to his former school, Stowe, where he had been head of English for 21 years. During that lunch, Peter and Field bonded over their love of literature. Field made a great impression on his teacher, with Peter telling friends he found him “an absolute delight”. Field was eager to win over the Cambridgeeducated academic, and presented himself as the perfect pupil – but his intentions were dark. In his diary, later found by police, Field wrote, “I called Peter and invited myself over.
The reasons are manifold, but centre on avarice – I wanted to work at the university or at Stowe School. So, I went over and was amusing and cheered the poor man up. His day-to-day existence was lonely.”
DANGEROUS LIAISON
Peter thought of Field as a “serious intellectual”, and had no idea his student was manipulating him into a relationship. David tells us, “Field targeted Peter because he quickly worked out that he could use him. He saw Peter as a means to an end.”
Field got a 2:1 in his English Literature and Journalism degree in 2012, and then undertook an MA in English Literature, which he completed at the same university
in 2013. By now, Field was living in Peter’s home, first as his lodger, then as his lover. Field had also ingratiated his way into the local church as a warden and was looking into being ordained. David – who describes Field as a “cunning psychopath” – says, “A psychopath works out how to get close to you, so they can use you. They have to inveigle their way into someone’s life, so they can understand their victim and use what they find out as a way of manipulating them. Field was very good at presenting himself to institutions in a way that seduced them.”
But while Field may have appeared respectable and studious within the community, behind the closed doors of Peter’s home, his true colours were beginning to show. Their relationship started to lose its shine and Field began conducting liaisons with other people behind Peter’s back. David says, “Field had a sexual interest in older people – females and men. All the men he met using Grindr were older, so he was probably a gerontophile.”
Having had glimpses into Field’s true personality, Peter began penning poems attacking his partner. In one, he wrote, “Consider now an obscure youth called Ben… Deceptive and disloyal as a friend, Ben uses people for unworthy ends… Hurting others is his special pleasure, cruel disregard a happy leisure.” In what they called “rap battles”, Field retorted with hurtful and abusive verses, calling Peter “demanding” and “maddening”. “Peter could see through Field at times, but not to the extent that he wanted to end the relationship,” says David. “Peter came from a generation where, once you committed to something, you stuck with it. So, while he saw Field’s real personality at times, he was going to stay with him.”
DARKER TURN
Despite his doubts, Peter took part in a betrothal ceremony in March 2014, where the couple exchanged knives, rings and crucifix necklaces as a sign of their love. Peter wrote in his diary, “One of the happiest moments of my life. Gone are the fears of dying alone.” David says, “Field was the kind of man that Peter fantasised about forming a relationship with – a younger man who was handsome and loved literature.” But just eight months after their betrothal, a scheming Field persuaded Peter to change his will, leaving him his home and £20,000.
By January 2015, Field had started a PHD and become a church secretary. He was also juggling three relationships: Peter; girlfriend Lara Busby, who he’d been dating since 2012; and his PHD supervisor, Dr Setara Pracha. Then his relationship with Peter took a darker turn when Field embarked upon a vicious gaslighting campaign. He started to drug Peter with sedatives and hallucinogens, including 2C-B – a psychedelic – combined with alcohol to make Peter feel as if he was losing his sanity. Field would move objects around, and wrote messages “from God” on mirrors. Peter voiced his concerns in letters to his GP, and told friends he was suffering from night terrors and hallucinations.
Finally, on 25 October 2015, Field gave Peter flurazepam (typically used to treat insomnia), before suffocating him. “I hated you all along,” he told the dying man, according to his own notes. A near-empty bottle of whisky was
‘FIELD IS A DEEPLY MALEVOLENT AND EVIL MAN’
found next to Peter’s body, creating the misconception that he had drunk himself to death. The coroner’s report backed this up, concluding that Peter, 69, had died of alcohol poisoning. Field almost got away with murder… except he’d developed a taste for psychological torture and deception.
ANOTHER VICTIM
With Peter out of the way, Field found his next target in Peter’s 83-year-old neighbour Ann Moore-martin.
The “loving, kind and affectionate” retired headmistress, who Field first met in November 2014, was unmarried and had no children. Field quickly seduced his way into her home, as they embarked on a relationship following Peter’s death. According to Ann’s sister-in-law, she seemed hypnotised by her new man, like “a love-struck teenager”. Field again set about writing notes on mirrors, saying things like, “Give all that you have to each other”, eventually conning Ann into handing over £30,000 and changing her will.
“The first thing that shocked me was the blatant gaslighting of Peter, and then how quickly Field moved on to other people,” David says. “Peter was no longer useful, so Field deserted him so he could move on to others who he would find more helpful.”
Shortly before her death from natural causes in May 2017, Ann realised she had been betrayed by Field and told her family about him. They tipped off police about their suspicions and an investigation was launched. A second post-mortem was carried out on Peter 19 months after his death, which established he’d been poisoned. Brazenly, Field had moved on again and was living with Dr Pracha when he was arrested in March 2017.
Originally bailed due to lack of evidence, Field was arrested again in January 2018, and charged with eight counts, including murder, conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and fraud. In the police van, Field boasted, “I think I will get away with most of it.” David tells us, “Field evaded detection not only because of his skill in manipulating the community to believe he was a scholar, a Christian and a dependable man looking after his partner, but also because the coroner’s first inquiry got it wrong.”
During a three-month trial, Field admitted to drugging Peter with benzodiazepines and hallucinogens to “torment” him. He told the jury that he did it “for no other reason than it was cruel, to upset and torment Peter, purely out of meanness”.
He also confessed, “I have deceived absolutely everyone that I’ve ever had a relationship with.” David watched Field take the stand and recalls, “He was cocky, like he knew he was the brightest boy in the class. It was almost like he was performing. He was frankly shameless about who he was and had no remorse.”
With evidence from his journals, poetry and videos weighing against him, the jury found Field guilty of Peter’s murder on 9 August 2019. He was acquitted of the attempted murder of Ann. Peter’s brother Ian called Field a “deeply malevolent and thoroughly evil man, who callously and greedily seduced his way into my brother’s life.” Field, now 30, was sentenced to life on 18 October 2019, and must serve a minimum of 36 years. He was also ordered to pay back more than £190,000 to Peter and Ann’s families. In March 2021, he lost his appeal to have his murder conviction overturned. “This is justice for Peter and his family. Field’s inheritance has been given back to Peter’s family, which was also just,” says David.
SERIAL KILLER
David believes that if Field hadn’t been caught, there could have been more victims. Police found a list of names in his notebooks, titled “100 Clients”, at his home. “Buckingham was very lucky. It could have been dealing with a serial killer, who would have used the Church to gain access to the people he was going to murder in much the same way as Shipman used medicine,” says David. “That list of 100 people useful to him were people who – in the right circumstances, when it suited Ben Field – he would have killed.”
Sadly, it was too late for Peter. “I think Peter did love Field, genuinely and heartfelt,” says David. “That’s the tragedy of Peter Farquhar’s life – he was born at a time when being gay was illegal, and he was desperate to give his love to somebody. Tragically for Peter, he gave his love to a psychopath.”