• March 28, 2024
 Documentary Highlights Financial Gain Motive

Documentary Highlights Financial Gain Motive

Benjamin Field was found guilty of murdering 69-year-old Peter Farquhar in August of 2019.

It appeared financial gain was Mr Field’s motivation as he is said to have tricked Mr Farquhar into changing his Will prior to the murder.

In a TV documentary, that will air this evening, reveals how Mr Farquhar’s relatives and the Buckinghamshire police force have been working tirelessly to ensure justice for him.

Mr Field was Mr Farquhar’s partner, and after manipulating him to change his Will, so Field would become the main beneficiary, he then murdered him and attempted to cover it up as suicide.

Mr Field also manipulated and later murdered a neighbour of Mr Farquhar’s, Ann Moore-Martin, who also altered her Will, which saw Field inherit her property upon her death.

The documentary Catching A Killer: A Diary From The Grave, focuses on Mr Farquhar’s diary. Within it he details how he met Mr Field, and how their friendship developed and later blossomed into a relationship.

However, these feelings were all just an elaborate ploy on Field’s part, and he admitted during his trial at Oxford Crown Court that these feelings were ‘faked and part of a plot to seize his [Mr Farquhar’s] money.’ He also admitted this with regards to Ms Moore-Martin too.

Detective Sergeant Richard Earl, is one of the people who has read all of Mr Farquhar’s journals as part of the investigation. He said:

“I felt I got to know Peter and as if I could hear his voice really clearly, and I have no doubt he was in love. He and Ben shared a bed and had a celibate relationship. They were married in all but name and Peter felt he’d found a life-long partner.

“Instead, he found someone truly malevolent. We found notes in Ben’s workbook plotting out what he was going to say to Peter as he died: ‘I hated you all along – this is MY house’. I sincerely hope he never said it – but I wouldn’t put it past Ben because he was so manipulative and evil.”

Mr Field was found guilty of murdering Mr Farquhar. He was found not guilty of murdering Ms Moore-Martin and cleared of a charge of conspiracy to murder. Mr Field also pleaded guilty to defrauding Ms Moore-Martin of £4,000 to buy a car and £7,000 for a dialysis machine.

He was sentenced to 36 years imprisonment.

Ian, Mr Farquhar’s brother said:

“Ben Field is a deeply malevolent, thoroughly evil man who callously and greedily seduced his way into my brother’s life.

“If you have a single relative maybe getting older, check out if they’re lonely deep inside and if they start getting really friendly with someone in the nicest possible way, check everything.”

Are there any steps that could have been taken which may have flagged up if Mr Farquhar and Ms Moore-Martin were being manipulated into changing their Wills?

Jennifer van Deursen