A former church warden serving a life sentence for murdering a former Manchester Grammar School teacher has lost an appeal against his conviction.
Benjamin Field was found guilty of killing Peter Farquhar, 69, following a campaign of physical and mental torture and handed a life sentence with a minimum of 36 years in October 2019.
The 30-year-old carried out the brutal killing to inherit his victim's house and money after driving him to think he was losing his mind.
Novelist and English teacher Mr Farquhar, who was described as a 'father figure' to boys at the top independent secondary, died in 2015 aged 69.
He was last employed as an English lecturer at the University of Buckingham, where he is remembered as a 'charming, erudite and deeply thoughtful man'.
Field, of Olney, Buckinghamshire, asked three appeal judges to overturn his conviction earlier this year, at a Court of Appeal hearing in London.
They ruled against his appeal today.
Field's barrister argued that trial judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, had misdirected the jury and said the murder conviction was “unsafe” as a result.
David Jeremy QC argued that directions given to jurors before they started deliberations left the defence with “nothing to say” when in fact there was “much that could be said on Field’s behalf on the issue of causation”.
But appeal judges disagreed.
“… we consider that the approach of the judge was correct”, said Lord Justice Fulford in a written ruling on Thursday.
“The judge’s directions captured the essence of the issue in a clear and admirably succinct manner.”
He added: “We dismiss the appeal against conviction.”
During his trial, detectives branded Field a psychopath and said he would have posed an 'ongoing danger to society' had he not been stopped.
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.
But his scheme unravelled when he began targeting Mr Farquhar's neighbour, Ann Moore-Martin, in the village of Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire.
Field manipulated Miss Moore-Martin, a deeply religious retired head teacher, by writing messages on her mirrors purporting to be from God.
Field underwent a 'betrothal' ceremony with Mr Farquhar, who was gay, while also having a string of girlfriends, and was in a sexual relationship with Miss Moore-Martin, who was 57 years his senior.
Miss Moore-Martin died two years after Mr Farquhar in May 2017 from natural causes.
Field 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.
The jury found Field not guilty of conspiracy to murder Miss Moore-Martin and the alternative charge of attempted murder.
