25 July 2023 , 15:00
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BBC drama The Sixth Commandment has gripped viewers as it tells the real-life case of Peter Farquhar, a retired English lecturer who was murdered in 2015.
The true events have been dramatised to show what took place in the sleepy Buckinghamshire village of Maids Moreton in 2015. Farquhar, played by Timothy Spall, was murdered by his student and churchwarden Ben Field, played by Éanna Hardwicke.
He then went on to attempt to defraud his vulnerable neighbour, Ann Moore-Martin, played by Ann Reid. Ben romantically pursued both Peter and Ann before subjecting them to despicable acts of mental torture, gaslighting them and conning them out of their money and killing Peter.
Over two years, Ben drugged the lecturer and urged him to drink alcohol while simultaneously tricking his lover, leading to the author believing he was losing his mind.
Timothy Spall and Anne Reid play Peter Farquhar and Ann Moore Martin in the drama (BBC/Wild Mercury/Amanda Searle)One month after Ben moved in Peter was admitted into hospital after ingesting 14 sleeping tablets with 400ml of gin which staff suspected was an overdose but, in fact, he had been drugged.
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In August 2015, Ben spiked his lover with the powerful psychedelic drug 2CB on the day of the release of his third novel, A Wide Wide Sea but attendees simply believed the lecturer was becoming an alcoholic.
He was found dead on October, 26 2016 next to a bottle of whiskey by his cleaner and his death was initially put down to acute alcohol intoxication.
When Ann called solicitor Diana Davis to ask for her will to be changed to include Ben, alarm bells were set off as this was the second elderly pensioner to contact her asking to make Ben a beneficiary.
What happened to Ben Field?
Ben Field, then 28, was found guilty of murdering Peter Farquhar in 2019 by an unanimous jury. He was cleared of conspiring to kill Ann Moore-Martin and of her attempted murder.
He admitted to poisoning Farquhar and "psychologically manipulating" them both, but he refuted that he had been involved in their deaths. Field was also found guilty of defrauding Peter and Ann out of more than £225,000.
He was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum sentence of 36 years. It was reported that Field had a list of 100 "clients" who he considered "useful" to him which included his own parents and grandparents.
Field has made two unsuccessful bids to challenge his conviction at the Court of Appeal. An application has since been made for the Criminal Cases Review Commission to review the case, according to the Oxford Mail.
It came with a view to seeing if senior judges would hear a fresh appeal. Created in the 1990s, the CCRC is the official independent body tasked with investigating potential miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Typically, it will only refer a case back to the court of appeal where someone has already unsuccessfully appealed their conviction, and where new evidence or a new legal argument has been uncovered.
A spokesman for the CCRC told the Oxford Mail: “An application has been received related to this case. It would be inappropriate for us to discuss the application or make any comment at this stage.”
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