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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Two years on from Peter Farquhar’s death, the major crime team detectives had no murder scene and the property where it happened had been extensively remodelled. Smith had been staying at pensioner Liz Zettl's house. Zettl was friends with both Moore-Martin and Farquhar. Smith and Field were also accused of possessing a copy of a Zettl’s will, with the intention of finding out how much the pensioner was ‘worth’, and it is believed that she was intended to be Field’s third victim. At the trial, Zettl became the oldest court witness in British history when she testified aged 101. [9] Field fed his older partner a psychoactive drug, BK2CB, at an event to launch one of Mr Farquhar’s own books at Stowe School.

Ben Field’s friend, Martyn Smith, who The true story of Ben Field’s friend, Martyn Smith, who

As well as Field pretending to fall in love with Mr Farquhar and moving in with him, he also orchestrated it so Smith also moved into the retired man’s home as a lodger and, later, Ann Moore-Martin’s and other potential victim, Liz Zettl’s homes, while planning to defraud them of their estates. During his trial, detectives described Mr Field to the court as a psychopath who would have posed an “ongoing danger to society” if he hadn’t been stopped. Mr Earl said: “It’s really hard to stress how big this investigation was and how much work went into it.Murder inquiry: 'Church warden and magician' arrested. Sky News, 17 January 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2018. It was the last old-fashioned murder investigation. There was very little digital media, there wasn’t much phone work, there was no CCTV. Mr Earl said: “I feel a real affinity with Peter. We have a lot of the same interests; I think we’d have got on quite well. We have similar personalities in some ways. Smith, David James; Bellotti, Alex (21 July 2021). " 'Killer church warden was no ordinary psychopath - as his chilling diaries show' ". mirror.

Peter Farquhar - Wikipedia Peter Farquhar - Wikipedia

Where is Ben Field – of new true crime series The Sixth Commandment – now?". Cosmopolitan. 17 January 2023. Although there have been various documentaries, press releases and podcasts, I don’t think any of them could grasp the volume of material we had to look at.” The Channel 4 documentary series Catching a Killer recounted the acts of Field in the fifth instalment of the first series. The 90-minute episode, titled 'A Diary from the Grave', aired on 12 January 2020. [18] On 9 August 2019, Field was convicted of Farquhar's murder. [10] He was acquitted of the attempted murder of Ann Moore-Martin, who died of natural causes on 12 May 2017. [5] Smith was acquitted of all charges. [5]

The Sixth Commandment is proof that true crime dramas don't have to exploit murder victims

Craig, David. "Catching A Killer: Viewers react to 'truly frightening' C4 documentary on Peter Farquhar's murder". radiotimes.com. Radio Times . Retrieved 28 August 2023. The complexity of the case was to interweave what Peter had written about his deteriorating health alongside what Ben Field was writing about his machinations at the time.

Sentencing remarks of The Honourable Mr Justice Sweeney Kt

He had photographed himself with messages written in a bathroom mirror for Ann Moore-Martin to find - purporting to be from God, they included one that read ‘Ben loves you’. Mr Farquhar had a wide circle of friends, and had penned four novels after retiring from teaching at public school Stowe in 2004. On 9 August 2019, Field was convicted of the 2015 murder of author Peter Farquhar, but acquitted of the attempted murder of Farquhar's neighbour Ann Moore-Martin, who died of natural causes on 12 May 2017. As part of the same trial Field had pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and burglary against the same two victims. [10]It was what I’d call old-fashioned coppering; that laborious, painstaking analysis and review of written material and small pieces of evidence.” At his trial, Field would tell the jury that Mr Farquhar could have died from drinking whisky and taking his usual dose of insomnia drug flurazepam. Among them was what the prosecution said was a plan of how he would kill Mr Farquhar. “He said – incredibly – that he wrote it after Peter’s death, despite the fact it was dated before his death,” Mr Earl said.