Woman reveals she was physically sick when she discovered her church warden boyfriend, 28, had murdered his male lover, 69, and realised she’d been unwittingly ‘supporting a monster’
- Field’s former girlfriend, Lara Busby has spoken out about relationship with killer
- Ben Field, 28, was convicted of murdering elderly writer Peter Farquhar in 2015
- Church warden befriended ‘sexually repressed’ Farquhar to get hands on his will
- Drugged and gaslighted semi-retired man to convince him he was going mad
- Field previously admitted every relationship he’s had has been based upon lies
The ex-girlfriend of a ‘psychopathic’ church warden, 28, who murdered a university lecturer, 69, to inherit his home has revealed that she had ‘no idea’ her previously ‘caring and attentive’ boyfriend was a killer.
Lara Busby, 28, from Buckinghamshire, has told of how she was ‘physically sick’ the moment she found out Ben Field, a baptist minister’s son, had killed his semi-retired university lecturer lover.
Field, 28, was last year convicted of murdering Peter Farquhar, 69, as part of an elaborate ‘gaslighting’ plot to seduce pensioners and inherit their wealth and Lara has told Stylist magazine, how she was physically sick on discovering his fines.
Lara believed Field was innocent when he went on trial for the murder of Mr Farquhar, but when she read about the case in the papers she realised: ‘I had been supporting someone who was a complete monster, and I had no idea about it whatsoever.’
Field secretly gave Mr Farquhar drugs and spiked his whisky, hoping that his eventual death at his hands would look like suicide or an accident.
Ben Field’s ex-girlfriend Lara Busby, 28, from Buckinghamshire, has revealed that she had ‘no idea’ her previously ‘caring and attentive’ boyfriend was a killer
Field, 28, (pictured) was last year convicted of murdering Peter Farquhar, 69, as part of an elaborate ‘gaslighting’ plot to seduce pensioners and inherit their wealth
During his trial, the criminal had admitted his personality was ‘fundamentally flawed’ and every relationship he’d ever had, even with his own family, had been based on lies and deceit.
The pair had met in 2012, when Lara was 19, and Field was two years older, and described her former boyfriend as ‘really caring and attentive’.
She told of their ‘normal relationship’ and how the couple would undergo everyday activities like walking her dog while facing regular problems such as maintaining a long-distance relationship at university.
The couple split up in March 2013, but rekindled things in October that year.
Lara said for the next three years, their relationship was casual, but in the summer of 2017 it had developed into something more serious, and Ben told her he loved her.
But at the same time in 2017, the Baptist minister’s son began targeting Mr Farquhar’s neighbour, Ann Moore-Martin, in the village of Maids Moreton.
She told of how she was ‘physically sick’ the moment she found out her former partner had killed his semi-retired university lecturer lover
Field secretly gave Mr Farquhar (pictured left) drugs and spiked his whisky, hoping that his eventual death at his hands would look like suicide or an accident
Field had seduced Farquhar’s neighbour, Ms Moore-Martin, 57 years his senior and wrote on her mirror that it was ‘the will of the Lord’ that she leave her estate to him .
He considered plans to kill her with a ‘sex machine’, which was intended to cause her to have a heart attack, and took a picture of her performing a lewd act on him without her knowledge, the court heard.
She signed her estate over to Field who was arrested in March 2017.
He turned up after work to tell Lara, and said he’d been arrested on suspicion of ‘poisoning someone’, saying it was a false allegation made by a family member who was unhappy because the woman had put him in her will.
Field had seduced Farquhar’s neighbour, Ms Moore-Martin (pictured) , 57 years his senior
He wrote on her mirror that it was ‘the will of the Lord’ that she leave her estate to him
‘He promised me that he’d done nothing wrong and I had no reason not to believe him – as far as I was aware, he was the same lovely, caring person he’d always been,’ she said.
Ms Moore-Martin changed her will again before she died in 2017, and Field was cleared of a charge of conspiring to murder her in 2019.
However, Field was again arrested in relation to Mr Farquhar in January 2018, and the pair broke contact, unable to speak after Lara was made a key witness.
The ‘psychopathic’ crimes of Benjamin Field
Benjamin Field, 28, was found guilty in August 2019 of killing Peter Farquhar, 69, in order to inherit his house and money.
Detectives branded Field a psychopath and said he would have posed an ‘ongoing danger to society’ had he not been stopped.
He was jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 36 years behind bars at Oxford Crown Court in October 2019.
Field secretly gave Mr Farquhar drugs and spiked his whisky, hoping that his eventual death at his hands would look like suicide or an accident.
It was only when the Baptist minister’s son began targeting Mr Farquhar’s neighbour, Ann Moore-Martin, in the village of Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire, that his wicked scheme began to unravel.
Judge Mr Justice Sweeney told Field: ‘He [Mr Farquhar] was a committed Christian, but also gay and attracted to younger men – which was a conflict that that he had resolved through his adult life by remaining celibate.
‘He was, at his core, lonely and craving for love and affection. You realised that when, as a student, you came across him at the university in 2011 and 2012 and you decided to exploit him for your own gain.
‘Although heterosexual by inclination, indeed you had numerous girlfriends whilst you were involved with both Peter Farquhar and Anne Moore-Martin, you set about seducing him.’
The sexually promiscuous Field also gaslighted Miss Moore-Martin, a deeply religious retired headteacher, by writing messages on her mirrors purporting to be from God.
He had admitted fraudulently being in relationships with the pensioners as part of his plan to get them to change their wills.
Field accepted he had ‘psychologically manipulated’ the retired teachers but denied any involvement in their deaths.
Mr Farquhar, who was torn about his sexuality because of his religion, died in October 2015, while Miss Moore-Martin died in May 2017 from natural causes.
Prosecutors said Field had a ‘profound fascination in controlling and manipulating and humiliating and killing’ and alleged he had plotted his crimes with his friend, failed magician Martyn Smith, 33.
Field denied murdering the author and University of Buckingham lecturer and maintained Mr Farquhar could have died from taking his usual dose of flurazepam and drinking whisky but was convicted by the jury.
The University of Buckingham PhD student, of Olney, Buckinghamshire, had previously pleaded guilty to defrauding Miss Moore-Martin of £4,000 to buy a car and £27,000 for a dialysis machine.
He also admitted two burglaries and being in fraudulent relationships with Mr Farquhar and Miss Moore-Martin.
Field insisted he had acted alone and had not recruited his young brother Tom, 24, or Smith to help with the dialysis fraud.
The jury found Field not guilty of conspiracy to murder Miss Moore-Martin and the alternative charge of attempted murder.
After her former partner was charged, she read about his crimes in the papers on the first day of his trial, and it all began to unravel.
‘This man that I had known for so many years, who I was in love with…did not exist.I finished reading the article and physically threw up,’ she revealed.
‘I felt taken advantage of and misled into having feelings for someone who didn’t deserve them.’
Field had admitted fraudulently being in relationships with the pensioners as part of his plan to get them to change their wills.
The novelist was torn about his sexuality because of his religion and Field had admitted fraudulently being in relationships with the pensioners as part of his plan to get them to change their wills
Mr Farquhar died in October 2015, while Miss Moore-Martin died in May 2017 from natural causes. Pictured, a grab from a video of Peter in bed taken by Ben Field in 2015
He accepted he had ‘psychologically manipulated’ the retired teachers but denied any involvement in their deaths.
The killer was jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 36 years behind bars at Oxford Crown Court.
Mr Farquhar, who was torn about his sexuality because of his religion, died in October 2015, while Miss Moore-Martin died in May 2017 from natural causes.
Prosecutors said Field had a ‘profound fascination in controlling and manipulating and humiliating and killing’ and alleged he had plotted his crimes with his friend, failed magician Martyn Smith, 33.
Field denied murdering the author and University of Buckingham lecturer and maintained Mr Farquhar could have died from taking his usual dose of flurazepam and drinking whisky but was convicted by the jury.
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