A Plot to Kill: The notorious killing of Peter Farquhar, a story of deception and betrayal that shocked a quiet English town

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The officer said: “We came up with a list of drugs, sent that off and when it came back with the results [it] matched perfectly with Peter’s symptoms and Field’s written records. Justice Sweeney said Field was a “well-practised and able liar” and had “no doubt” he was a “dangerous offender”. EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Mystery as Prince Andrew's favourite club Tramp - which once played host to stars. Oblivious to the fact that Field was cheating on him with both women and men, Peter could not believe his luck in having met him.

Ben Field was caught by police How Sixth Commandment killer Ben Field was caught by police

Mr Field killed Mr Farquhar on 26 October 2015, but he wasn’t arrested until January 2018 and then convicted in August 2019 after a jury trial at Oxford Crown Court.Prior to his arrest, and during his fake relationships with the manipulated pair, Mr Field was a village churchwarden and training to be a vicar. As a process-focused killer, Field would have enjoyed watching Peter's confusion, while he deliberately kept the community at arm's length so he could control the narrative about what was happening to Peter. It was only when you overlaid all the different pieces of evidence that you could put together a full picture of what was happening. From the witness box, Field accepted drugging Mr Farquhar, claiming that it was because the older man woke him up by being active around the house at night. He was described by his friend and former pupil at Manchester, Michael Crick, as having "an acute understanding of the problems of modern adolescent boys.

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During his trial, detectives described Mr Field to the court as a psycopath who would have posed an “ongoing danger to society” if he wasn’t stopped. He wrote her poetry and love letters and secretly wrote messages on Miss Moore-Martin's mirrors - hoping she would believe they were from God. Moore-Martin had plans to move closer to family, but changed her mind after her relationship with Field started. Peter’s diary formed the absolute core basis of the police investigation and the subsequent prosecution. The prosecution’s case at trial was that Field secretly gave his older lover drugs and spiked his drinks in the hope that his eventual death at his hands would look like suicide or an accident.Only Field knows exactly what happened that night but, just like a key character in his book A Bitter Heart, Peter was somehow made to consume a dangerous combination of a sedative and whisky. In his journals, he had drawn up a list of ‘100 clients’, including his parents and grandparents, which prosecutors said was a tally of future targets although which Field claimed were people who ‘may be useful’ to him. Years later, Mr Farquhar would be dead and both Mr Field and Mr Smith would end up on trial for his murder – and more. When Peter found all his contacts on his mobile phone had been mysteriously erased, he could only conclude that he had done this in his befuddled state of mind, but all the time it was Field doing it behind his back.

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Within Peter, I saw a real tension between somebody trying to reconcile their desires with their faith,” he says, “and within that attempt at reconciliation, that almost denial of the reality of it, along comes the object of a prayer, so perfectly an answer to a prayer that he cannot believe it. Rishi Sunak and US Vice President Kamala Harris meet and agree on Israel's right to defend itself - and vow. Field was so successful in his deception that, after he was convicted, Peter's brother Ian and his wife Sue explained that they had believed what he had told them — that Peter was sick, and required constant care — and were pleased that he was helping him.How Peter Farquhar murder trial unfolded and where they are now Ben Field and Martyn Smith met Peter Farquhar, who taught them at the University of Buckinghamshire, in the early 2010s.