Man, 23, charged with fraud linked to double murder

A 23-YEAR-OLD man has been charged with fraud in connection with a double murder investigation into the deaths of two pensioners who lived three doors apart.

Martyn Smith and Benjamin Field have been charged in connection with the two deaths, three years ago, in the village of Maids Moreton near Buckingham.

Police charged Tom Field with fraud and he will appear in court on December 7.

Detectives launched a double murder inquiry in January, two years after the death of Peter Farquhar, 69, a lecturer at the University of Buckingham, and seven months after the death of retired headmistress Ann Moore-Martin, 83.

Mr Farquhar died on October 26, 2015 and Ms Moore-Martin, who lived three doors from him in the village of Maids Moreton, died on May 12, 2017.

Benjamin Field, church warden, and 28, a 32-yearold Smith, a magician, appeared at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court.

Benjamin Field, of Wellingborough Road, Olney, is charged with two counts of conspiracy to murder Ms Moore-Martin and Mr Farquhar, one of murder of Mr Farquhar, one count of attempted murder of Ms Moore-Martin, two counts of fraud and three counts of burglary.

Smith, of Redruth, Cornwall, is charged with two counts of conspiracy to murder Ms MooreMartin and Mr Farquhar, one count of murder of Mr Farquhar, one count of attempted murder of Ms Moore-Martin, one count of fraud, and two counts of burglary.