Retrial Ordered as Benjamin Field’s Murder Conviction Quashed by Court of Appeal

​LONDON – In a stunning legal reversal, the Court of Appeal on Thursday quashed the murder conviction of Benjamin Field, the former churchwarden whose campaign of “gaslighting” and manipulation inspired the hit BBC drama The Sixth Commandment.

​Field, 34, was originally sentenced in 2019 to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 36 years for the 2015 killing of Peter Farquhar, a 69-year-old retired university lecturer. However, three senior judges have now ordered a full retrial, citing “exceptional circumstances” regarding the legal interpretation of how Mr. Farquhar died.

​The decision follows a referral by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which questioned the original trial’s directions to the jury regarding “causation.”

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​During the 2019 trial, prosecutors argued that Field—the son of a Baptist minister—seduced and drugged Mr. Farquhar to inherit his estate, lacing his food and whisky with tranquilizers to make his death appear accidental. While Field admitted to defrauding and “psychologically manipulating” both Mr. Farquhar and his neighbor, Ann Moore-Martin, his defense has long maintained there was no proof he directly caused Mr. Farquhar’s death.

​Defense lawyers argued in a March hearing that there was “no evidence” the victim was forced or deceived into consuming the specific substances found in his system.

​A Chilling Precedent

​The case remains one of the most disturbing instances of elder abuse in recent British history. Field was found to have:

• ​Engaged in a “Betrothal”: He entered a relationship with the deeply religious Mr. Farquhar while simultaneously targeting Ms. Moore-Martin.
• ​Mirrors and “Messages from God”: He wrote on Ms. Moore-Martin’s mirrors to manipulate her into changing her will.

• ​Systematic Poisoning: He confessed to lacing Mr. Farquhar’s drinks to make the lecturer believe he was losing his mind.

​Despite these admissions of fraud and burglary—convictions for which still stand—the murder charge itself is now legally “unsafe” according to the appellate court.

​The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has been granted permission to take the matter to the Supreme Court due to the “unusual” legal nature of the causation argument before a retrial commences.

​For the families of Peter Farquhar and Ann Moore-Martin, the ruling reopens a painful chapter. While Field remains in custody for his other crimes, the quashing of the murder conviction means the central question of the “Maids Moreton” case—whether Field’s psychological torture directly legally equates to murder—must be debated once more in front of a jury.