A church warden started sexual relationships with two pensioners and had them rewrite their wills before murdering one and trying to kill the other, a court heard today.
Baptist minister's son Benjamin Field, 28, and magician Martyn Smith, 32, allegedly plotted the deaths of Peter Farquhar, 69, and Ann Moore-Martin, 83, and tried to make them look like an accident or suicide using drugs,
alcohol or suffocation.
They are on trial at Oxford Crown Court accused of murder, conspiracy to murder and fraud, while Field's younger brother Tom, 24, also faces an allegation of fraud.
Benjamin Field allegedly had 'a profound fascination in controlling' - and the defendants were said to have written Ms Moore-Martin messages on her mirrors.
Benjamin Field was in a sexual relationship with retired teacher Mr Farquhar - a committed Anglican described in court as being 'torn' about his sexuality.
He also allegedly had sex with former headmistress Ms Moore-Martin - proven by a photograph he took of her without her knowledge performing a sexual act on him.
Benjamin Field (left), 28, and Martyn Smith (right), 32, are on trial at Oxford Crown Court accused of murder, conspiracy to murder and fraud
Peter Farquhar (left), 69, and Ann Moore-Martin, 83, died within a year and a half of each other. They lived three doors from each other in the picturesque village of Maids Moreton
Benjamin Field allegedly had sex with former headmistress Ms Moore-Martin (pictured) - proven by a photograph he took of her without her knowledge performing a sexual act on him
The pensioners lived three doors from each other in the picturesque village of Maids Moreton, in Buckinghamshire.
Mr Farquhar, an author and guest lecturer at the University of Buckingham, died in October 2015, while retired teacher Miss Moore-Martin passed away in May 2017.
Benjamin Field and Smith allegedly laced Mr Farquhar's food and drink with psychoactive drugs, some of which were legal to buy online.
The court heard alcohol and the drugs combined to leave him a 'dribbling shambles of his former self'.
Oliver Saxby QC, prosecuting, told the jury Benjamin Field's 'project' was to befriend a vulnerable person, get them to change their will and then 'make sure they died'.
He alleged Benjamin Field and Smith murdered Mr Farquhar and conspired to murder Miss Moore-Martin, who later died from natural causes.
The pensioners lived three houses apart in the village of Maids Moreton in Buckinghamshire
'The motive was financial gain - laced, as far as Benjamin Field is concerned, with a profound fascination in controlling and manipulating and humiliating and killing,' he said.
Tom Field, 24, of Olney, Buckinghamshire, denies a single charge of fraud
'The means were intricate - you will hear evidence of 'exit strategies', as he called them, involving drugging, and alcohol poisoning, and suffocation whilst asleep or sedated; and falls at home; and attempts to cause heart failure; car crashes, even; and unwitting overdoses.
'The common theme: death made to look like accident or suicide - an elderly, ailing life coming to a sad but predictable end.
'And why? Because, by then, he had deceived each into changing their will so he inherited their respective houses.
'If he was to inherit their houses, they had to die. And if he was to enjoy his inheritance, he had to get away with it.'
Mr Saxby went on: 'For Benjamin Field, this was a project: befriend a vulnerable individual, get them to change their will and then make sure they died.
'And it is a project he seems to have relished devising and managing and executing - and, to an extent, documenting - in various notes and diaries he made.
Mr Farquhar lectured at the University of Buckingham and had previously taught at schools
The murders took place in the Buckinghamshire village of Maids Moreton
'Indeed, piecing things together, it is clear that his project became his life's work - a life's work of which he was proud and for which he admired himself.
Extracts from 'An email about Peter' written by the murder accused
Benjamin Field was a prolific writer, documenting his 'thoughts and activities' in diaries, notes and also electronically, a court heard.
Among them was a document titled,An email about Peter. Oliver Saxby QC, prosecuting, read extracts of the two page document to the jury.
'Peter A Scott Farquhar is a man of many contradictions,' Benjamin Field wrote.
'He is a closeted, Christian, homosexual, English teaching pedant, with a seriously problematic attraction to teens, and who continues to privately tutor fourteen and fifteen year old boys in his home.
'I do not suspect him of ever acting inappropriately in any way. This is because I know he is a virgin.
'I first met Peter in my sixth term of university.
'Peter usually acts in a fashion that betrays his fearful nature, over cautious and aged.
'Example: when making a cup of tea, he will go to throw the bag into the cup, but is then stricken by apprehension, and goes to toss the thing several times before dropping it in from a distance of three or five inches.
'It's small, but summarises his entire demeanour - desiring to appear masterful, he contemplates showmanship; his aversion to failure inhibits; he ends up looking far more insecure and shaky than if he was not trying to present himself to the world.
'At the end of term, I called Peter and invited myself over. The reasons for this are manifold, but centre on career-minded avarice - I wanted to work at the university (where he was a guest lecturer), or at Stowe school (where he had been head of English for 21 years), etc.
'So I went over and was amusing and cheered the poor man up. He retired early, to be a novelist, and his day to day existence was lonely.
'Note: Later in our friendship I edited his second novel for him, and suggested that we collaborate on a book.
'This is, once again, my own ambition seeking to exploit both Peter's vanity and his desire for companionship.
'Time passed, I saw Peter again and again. He once came to Olney, and I showed him round the various churches and spoke about the history of the Baptist Christian Tradition in Britain, Blah and Blah.
'Typically, though I would visit him during a free hour or two while I was in Buckingham anyway, and he would make us a meal.
'I had, and still have, a very clear model of relationship's reciprocity or mutuality, which is vulgarly commercial: he gives me things, and he gets me for a length of time.
'Historical example: he lets me stay in the spare room, makes me dinner and breakfast, and in exchange he wins at chess and feels a little less lonely.
'This is needlessly cruel, of course; I do like the man, and appreciate some of the things he's done for me. However, that's not really an interesting thing to say.'
'Peter Farquhar did die. Benjamin Field killed him. Almost certainly by suffocating him. Benjamin Field tried to kill Miss Moore-Martin. By a manner of means.
'But his 'exit strategy' for her was cut short. Because Miss Moore-Martin's niece became involved. And Miss Moore-Martin survived - only to die a little later from natural causes.'
Mr Saxby said that Benjamin Field was assisted by Smith. 'It is not entirely clear what Benjamin Field made of Smith,' Mr Saxby said.
'Indeed, it may be that you end up concluding that Benjamin Field is incapable of forming normal, empathetic friendships and relationships - he hinted as much in a recorded conversation with Smith after they had been arrested.
'But Smith was useful to him. And they became friends. And Smith lent Benjamin Field his assistance and support - in part because, like Benjamin Field, he was greedy, in part because he got carried away in Benjamin Field's world of plotting and deceit and death and in part because he was impressed by Benjamin Field, somewhat in his thrall - one witness describes Smith as a 'follower'.'
Mr Saxby alleged that Tom Field defrauded Miss Moore-Martin.
'He became involved on the margins - in particular, in relation to a fraud the three of them perpetrated on Miss Moore-Martin, deceiving her into giving Benjamin Field £27,000 to buy a kidney dialysis on the false premise that Tom Field needed one to survive if he was to stay at university. When, in fact, he was fine,' the prosecutor said.
'Tom Field's involvement comprised pretending to be extremely ill when he and Miss Moore-Martin met, playing up to the idea he was in mortal danger and in dire need of help.'
Mr Saxby said there were other 'antics' carried out by Benjamin Field, such as burgling the homes of elderly people and the planned deception of a 101-year-old woman.
'Like Peter Farquhar and Miss Moore-Martin, these were all people living locally to Benjamin Field and Smith,' he said.
'And some shared something else in common: their names were on a long list prepared by Benjamin Field under the heading, 'clients'. In other words, potential sources of money.'
The court heard that Benjamin Field - whose father Ian is a Baptist minister - started at the University of Buckingham in 2011, studying English, and then met Mr Farquhar, a retired teacher, who was lecturing there part-time.
He, like Smith, who was also studying English at the university, lodged at different times with Mr Farquhar.
Meanwhile, Tom Field was studying music at Cambridge University between 2013 and 2017 and was only at the family home in Olney during term-time.
Mr Farquhar, who had taught at Manchester Grammar School and Stowe School and published several novels, was a committed Anglican and attended church regularly.
'Peter Farquhar was gay. A number of friends guessed this and a selected few were told,' Mr Saxby said. 'One witness describes him as being 'torn' about his sexuality.'
As Benjamin Field and Mr Farquhar's relationship developed, they underwent a 'betrothal ceremony', which the pensioner described in his handwritten journal as 'one of the happiest moments of my life'.
Thames Valley Police issued these two photographs of Mr Farquhar, who died in October 2015
His journal also suggested their relationship had become sexual.
Benjamin Field 'read through diary entries made by ex-teacher'
The jury heard that Benjamin Field was in the habit of reading through diary entries made by retired teacher Peter Farquhar, and even copied down choice extracts to see how his poisoning campaign was progressing.
Oliver Saxby QC, prosecuting, said: 'Field was in the habit of snooping, of looking at Mr Farquhar's journals - at one stage Mr Farquhar realised this is what he had been doing.
'He caught him doing it but Field was not only reading what Mr Farquhar was writing - he was gaining an insight into Mr Farquhar's thinking and seeing how his plans were playing out on him.
'He was also logging some of them, in whole, in part or in summary, in his own diaries. Quite why, only he can say. Doing so probably made keeping a handle on so complex and carefully planned and coordinated a project, or series of projects, easier.
'But, the Crown would say, Field is an arrogant man and it seems as though he derived satisfaction, enjoyment, even pride, from cataloguing much of what was going on.'
The jury was told that Catholic Ms Moore-Martin had been tricked into believing she was receiving biblical messages from God as the 'gaslighting' defendants charged with attempting to murder her wrote messages on her mirrors.
It was also heard that Benjamin Field had written a list of methods he would use to 'get rid of' Ms Moore-Martin while making it look like self-euthanasia, including heart attack, dehydration, sex, in the bath and church tower.
Benjamin Field had entered into a sexual relationship with the 83-year-old, proven by a photograph he took of her performing a sexual act on him without her knowledge, the court heard.
Suspicions began to be raised when she commented to a friend that Benjamin Field had given her a white powder to help her sleep after she was hospitalised following a seizure - suffered as a result of the pair's attempts to murder her, the court heard.
She told friend Ellen Gordon 'it worked better than the tablets the doctors have given me.'
Benjamin Field and Smith deny charges of murder, conspiracy to murder and possession of an article for the use in fraud.
Field, of Olney, Buckinghamshire, also denies an alternative charge of attempted murder. But he has admitted four charges of fraud and two of burglary.
In addition, Smith, of Redruth, Cornwall, denies two charges of fraud and one of burglary. Tom Field, also of Olney, denies a single charge of fraud. The trial continues.
El curso estricto y lúgubre de los servicios de la Gran Cuaresma es interrumpido dos veces por los rayos de luz alegre, y en ambas ocasiones la fuente de esta luz es la Madre más pura de Dios.
