Sixth Commandment killer Ben Field pays £124,000 to his elderly victims’ families after selling flat which he bought with their life’s savings

• Murdering conman church warden has now been forced to hand over money 

A church warden who murdered a university lecturer and duped another victim into changing her will to benefit him has paid £124,000 to their devastated families.

Benjamin Field, 29, was jailed for at least 36 years for killing Peter Farquhar, 69, in order to inherit his house and money after gaslighting him pretending to be his lover.

Field secretly gave Mr Farquhar drugs and spiked his whisky, hoping that his eventual death at his hands would look like suicide or an accident.

He was convicted by a jury at Oxford Crown Court of Mr Farquhar’s murder in the village of Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire, in 2015 but acquitted of the attempted murder of neighbour Ann Moore-Martin. 

The Baptist minister’s son defrauded him of £160,000 from his will and defrauding Miss Moore-Martin of £4,000 to buy a car and £27,000 for a dialysis machine.

The BBC made a drama out of the case called the Sixth Commandment, which starred Timothy Spall.

Now, following a proceeds of crime hearing at Oxford Crown Court, he has paid £124,665.03 which has been ‘distributed as part of the agreed order to the victims in this case’. The money came from him selling a flat.

Benjamin Field, 29, was jailed for at least 36 years for killing Peter Farquhar, 69, in order to inherit his house and money after gaslighting him pretending to be his lover

Field defrauded Miss Moore-Martin of £4,000 to buy a car and £27,000 for a dialysis machine

Mr Farquhar’s family has branded Field a ‘deeply malevolent and thoroughly evil man’ when he was jailed.

Detectives described Field as a psychopath and said he would have posed an ‘ongoing danger to society’ had he not been stopped.

Imposing a life sentence, Mr Justice Sweeney said Field had been convicted by the jury of murder on ‘overwhelming evidence’.

‘In your evidence at trial you admitted that, from late 2012 until mid-2017, you had lived by deception and deceit and had been a well-practised and able liar,’ the judge told him.

‘You further admitted how you could manipulate and manoeuvre people, however sceptical they may have been, to achieve your ends without ever asking them to do so directly.

Baptist minister’s son Field (right) had pleaded guilty to defrauding Mr Farquhar (left) of £160,000 from his will

It was only when the Baptist minister’s son began targeting Mr Farquhar’s neighbour, Ann Moore-Martin, in the village of Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire (Mrs Moore-Martin’s home pictured), that his scheme began to unravel

‘You were, you accepted, a snake talker, as you were able to build pressure on your victims to believe what you needed them to believe and then to do whatever you needed them to do.

‘The evidence at trial clearly demonstrated grandiosity, a sense of superiority towards others, the exploitation of others to achieve personal gain, the need to belittle and humiliate others, fixation on fantasies of power and success, intelligence, a need for admiration from others, and a sense of entitlement together with an unwillingness to empathise with the feelings, needs and wishes of others.’

In his trial Field also admitted defrauding another victim, Ann-Moore Martin (pictured), but was cleared of conspiracy to murder the pensioner

It was only when the Baptist minister’s son began targeting Mr Farquhar’s neighbour, Ann Moore-Martin, in the village of Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire, that his scheme began to unravel.   

Judge Mr Justice Sweeney told Field during his trial: ‘He [Mr Farquhar] was a committed Christian, but also gay and attracted to younger men – which was a conflict that he had resolved through his adult life by remaining celibate.

‘He was, at his core, lonely and craving for love and affection. You realised that when, as a student, you came across him at the university in 2011 and 2012 and you decided to exploit him for your own gain.

‘Although heterosexual by inclination, indeed you had numerous girlfriends whilst you were involved with both Peter Farquhar and Anne Moore-Martin, you set about seducing him.’ 

Field accepted he had ‘psychologically manipulated’ the retired teachers but denied any involvement in their deaths. Pictured: Mr Farquhar and Field

Field also gaslighted Miss Moore-Martin, a deeply religious retired headteacher, by writing messages on her mirrors purporting to be from God.

He had admitted fraudulently being in relationships with the pensioners as part of his plan to get them to change their wills.

Field accepted he had ‘psychologically manipulated’ the retired teachers but denied any involvement in their deaths.

Mr Farquhar died in October 2015, while Miss Moore-Martin died in May 2017 from natural causes. 

Field denied murdering the author and University of Buckingham lecturer and maintained Mr Farquhar could have died from taking his usual dose of flurazepam and drinking whisky but was convicted by the jury.

The judge said that Field murdered Mr Farquhar by covertly giving him drugs and getting him to drink strong whisky and then, ‘if it was necessary, finished him off by suffocating him in a way that left no trace.’

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