A church warden who murdered his elderly lover after tormenting him into believing that he was losing his mind has been jailed for life. Ben Field, 28, was convicted in August of killing Peter Farquhar, 69, to inherit his house and money. Prosecutors said Field had a “profound fascination in controlling and manipulating and humiliating and killing” and he admitted to poisoning, gaslighting and defrauding Farquhar. Oliver Saxby QC, the lead prosecutor, said Field saw Farquhar was “vulnerable, and this was something, from the very outset, he decided to exploit.” After Farquhar’s death, Field began targeting his victim's neighbour, 83-year-old Ann Moore-Martin, and gaslighted her by writing messages on her mirrors he claimed were from God. Moore-Martin died in May 2017 from natural causes—Field was cleared of a charge of conspiracy to murder Moore-Martin and also acquitted of her attempted murder. However, he was given a life term with a minimum term of 36 years on Friday for Farquhar's death.
