The murder of a retired Scottish teacher by an "evil" churchwarden is to be the subject of a new BBC true crime drama. Award-winning actor Timothy Spall will play Edinburgh-born Peter Farquhar, who was killed by Ben Field after a campaign of physical and mental torture.
Field had a relationship with Mr Farquhar, a published author and a former head of English at Stowe School, and moved in with him. He gave his victim psychoactive drugs to alter his mood and behaviour and convinced Mr Farquhar to change his will so that he would inherit his home in Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire.
The university student "suffocated him" when he was too weak to resist, and left a half-empty bottle of whisky in Mr Farquhar's room to create the misconception he had drunk himself to death. Field, the son of a Baptist minister, then began a campaign of psychological manipulation involving neighbour Ann Moore-Martin, 83, in order to benefit from her will.
