A former church warden who was jailed for life for the murder of a college lecturer has had his conviction quashed on the court docket of attraction.
Benjamin Field was jailed for not less than 36 years in 2019 after being discovered responsible of murdering 69-year-old Peter Farquhar in Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire.
Prosecutors instructed Field’s trial he had pushed Farquhar to suppose he was dropping his thoughts with the intention to inherit his home and cash, secretly giving the pensioner tranquillisers and spiking his whisky within the hope his dying in 2015 would seem like suicide or an accident.
The case was referred to the court docket of attraction by the Criminal Cases Review Commission final 12 months, with Field’s legal professionals telling a listening to in March there was “no evidence” Farquhar was “forced or deceived” into taking the whisky or medicine.
In a ruling on Thursday, three senior judges quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial.
Lord Justice Edis, sitting with Mr Justice Goose and Mr Justice Butcher, additionally mentioned they’d permit the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to take the “unusual case” to the supreme court docket earlier than any retrial takes place.
