Judges showed “moral disapproval” when they previously upheld the murder conviction of a former Bucks church warden for killing a university lecturer, the Court of Appeal has heard.

Benjamin Field, 35, of Wellingborough Road, Olney, Buckinghamshire is serving a life sentence for the murder of Peter Farquhar, 69.

A jury had accepted that he had driven the pensioner to think he was losing his mind in order to inherit his house and money.

The prosecution case at trial was that Field secretly gave Mr Farquhar tranquiliser drugs and spiked his whisky, hoping that his eventual death would look like suicide or an accident, while lawyers for Field denied intending to kill.

He was ordered to serve at least 36 years behind bars in October 2019 after being convicted of Mr Farquhar’s murder following a trial at Oxford Crown Court.

The case inspired The Sixth Commandment, a four-part true crime series which aired on BBC One in July 2023.

Field previously attempted to appeal against his conviction, but this was rejected by the Court of Appeal in 2021.

However, Field’s case was considered again by the Court of Appeal on Thursday following a referral from the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

His barrister, David Jeremy KC, told the court in London that Field would have to have caused Mr Farquhar to ingest the whisky or medication, as well as it being “less than fully voluntary” to have caused the death.

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He said there was “no evidence that he was forced or deceived into consuming either”, adding: “Mr Farquhar knew what he was being given and knew who he was being given it by.”

Mr Jeremy said there was a difference between giving Mr Farquhar the drink and making him ingest it, adding it would be like “causing him to drive his car by handing him his car keys”.

Field’s trial heard that the sexually promiscuous Baptist minister’s son had manipulated Ann Moore-Martin, a deeply religious retired head teacher and Mr Farquhar’s neighbour, by writing messages on her mirrors purporting to be from God.

He admitted fraudulently being in relationships with the pensioners as part of his plan to get them to change their wills.

Field admitted two counts of burglary and three of fraud before his trial for murder.

He was found not guilty of conspiracy to murder Miss Moore-Martin and an alternative charge of attempted murder. He was also found not guilty of possession of an article for use in fraud.

Mr Jeremy said on Thursday that the previous Court of Appeal decision wrongly applied the law due to “moral disapproval”.

He said: “In March 2021, this court allowed its moral disapproval of what Field had done to deflect it from its duty to apply the law and upheld Field’s conviction for doing something that on the evidence of that night he did not do, that is cause the death of Peter Farquhar.”

Field appeared via videolink from HMP Frankland prison in Durham, occasionally taking notes as he watched the proceedings.

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The Crown Prosecution Service is opposing the appeal, with barrister David Perry KC telling judges that Field’s conviction is safe.

He said that the question of how Mr Farquhar’s death was caused “cannot be assessed in the abstract”, adding: “It has to be assessed in its own factual setting.”

He continued: “The appellant was not a mere bystander or a mere spectator of Mr Farquhar’s death at his own hands.

“He was, at all times, playing his part in causing the death both as a matter of common sense and as a matter of law.”

The hearing before Lord Justice Edis, Mr Justice Goose and Mr Justice Butcher will conclude on Thursday, March 5, with a decision in writing at a later date.