Court of Appeal Quashes Former Churchwarden Murder Conviction, Orders Retrial
Summary
The Court of Appeal quashed Benjamin Field's murder conviction for the 2015 killing of Peter Farquhar, ordering a retrial after finding jurors were not properly directed on whether Farquhar's decision to drink spiked whisky was voluntary. Lord Justice Edis said the CPS may take the case to the Supreme Court, and Field will remain in prison pending any such appeal.
What changed
The Court of Appeal allowed Benjamin Field's appeal against his murder conviction, finding that jurors at Oxford Crown Court were not properly directed on whether the victim's consumption of spiked whisky was voluntary. The appeal judges found the directions effectively withdrew from the jury the question of whether Farquhar's decision to drink the whisky had been voluntary. Lord Justice Edis noted this was an "unusual case" where the CPS may seek Supreme Court review.
For legal professionals, courts, and prosecutors, this decision has significant implications for how voluntary intoxication and victim decision-making are presented to juries in murder cases involving manipulation. The case may set precedent for how courts instruct juries on causation when victims act under the influence of substances administered by defendants. Defence teams should monitor for any Supreme Court consideration of this matter.
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Apr 18, 2026GovPing captured this document from the original source. If the source has since changed or been removed, this is the text as it existed at that time.
Thames Valley Police
Benjamin Field (right) was jailed for the murder of Peter Farquhar (left)
Danny Fullbrook Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire
16 April 2026
A former churchwarden jailed for murdering a university lecturer has had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal.
Benjamin Field, 35, was sentenced to a minimum of 36 years in prison for the murder of Peter Farquhar, 69, in Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire, in 2015.
On Thursday, senior judges ordered a retrial, saying jurors at Oxford Crown Court had "not been properly directed" over evidence related to Farquhar taking spiked whisky.
However, Lord Justice Edis, sitting with Mr Justice Goose and Mr Justice Butcher, said they would allow the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to take the "unusual case" to the Supreme Court.
He said Field would remain in prison "for so long as the appeal [to the Supreme Court] is pending".
In 2019, prosecutors at Field's trial said he spiked Farquhar's whisky to make him think he was losing his mind, in order to inherit his house and money.
But Field's lawyers told the Court of Appeal last month there was "no evidence" Farquhar was "forced or deceived" into taking the whisky or medication before his death.
Jurors in Oxford had been told that Field "suffocated" Farquhar when he was too weak to resist, and left a half-empty bottle of whisky in his room to create the misconception he had drunk himself to death.
The case was dramatised in 2023 with a four-part BBC drama, The Sixth Commandment, starring Timothy Spall, Anne Reid and Eanna Hardwicke.
Thames Valley Police
Benjamin Field was jailed in 2019 for murdering Peter Farquhar
Field's conviction had been referred by the Criminal Cases Review Commission under the exceptional circumstances provision, which allows a new appeal even if there is no new evidence.
Reading a summary of their ruling, the appeal judges said the jurors at trial had "not been properly directed" and the directions given to them on how to reach a verdict were "defective".
Lord Justice Edis said: "The directions effectively withdrew from the jury the question of whether Mr Farquhar's decision to drink the whisky had been voluntary."
Alongside his life sentence, Field was given a concurrent 16-year jail term for admitting fraud and burglary offences in relation to Farquhar and a neighbour - Ann Moore-Martin, 83.
Field, from Olney in Buckinghamshire, had also targeted Moore-Martin, a retired headteacher who he manipulated by writing messages on her mirrors purporting to be from God.
The former churchwarden admitted fraudulently being in relationships with the two pensioners as part of his plan to get them to change their wills.
He was found not guilty of conspiracy to murder Moore-Martin and an alternative charge of attempted murder. Moore-Martin died of natural causes in May 2017.
Thames Valley Police
Field admitted to faking relationships with Peter Farquhar (left) and Ann Moore-Martin (right)
Field previously attempted to appeal against his murder conviction in 2021, which he lost.
In this new attempt, his lawyers said the previous Court of Appeal decision wrongly applied the law due to "moral disapproval".
The CPS opposed the appeal arguing Field was not a mere bystander or spectator of Farquhar's death.
KC David Perry said: "He was, at all times, playing his part in causing the death both as a matter of common sense and as a matter of law."
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