A FORMER deputy churchwarden, Benjamin Field, who was sentenced in 2019 to life for the murder of a teacher and fellow churchgoer, had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal on Thursday.

The son of a Baptist minister, Mr Field was imprisoned for at least 36 years after being found guilty of murdering 69-year-old Peter Farquhar, in Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire. Prosecutors said at the trial that Mr Field had driven Mr Farquhar to think that he was losing his mind, in order to inherit his house and money, and that Mr Field secretly gave the pensioner tranquillisers and spiked his whisky. They said that Mr Field hoped that the death, in 2015, would look like suicide or an accident.

Last year, the case was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission. Mr Field’s lawyers told a hearing in March that there was “no evidence” that Mr Farquhar was “forced or deceived” into taking the whisky or medication. On Thursday, three senior judges quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial.

Lord Justice Edis, sitting with Mr Justice Goose and Mr Justice Butcher, also said that they would allow the Crown Prosecution Service to take the “unusual case” to the Supreme Court before any retrial.

Mr Farquhar was a former head of English at Stowe School. Mr Field was cleared of conspiracy to murder Ann Moore-Martin, a neighbour of Mr Farquhar with whom Mr Field began a relationship after Mr Farquhar’s death.

Mr Field was a 22-year-old student at the University of Buckingham when he met Mr Farquhar, a guest lecturer at the university in 2011. Mr Field began to accompany Farquhar to Stowe Parish Church, in the grounds of Stowe School, and was appointed deputy churchwarden and then, in September 2014, PCC secretary.

After Mr Farquhar’s death, Mr Field told the congregation that he was exploring ordination, and he met the director of ordinands for the diocese of Oxford. He was five days away from attending a Bishops’ Advisory Panel when he was arrested.