A man who was jailed for 36 years man after being convicted of murdering retired Manchester Grammar school teacher and author Peter Farquhar has had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal who have ordered a retrial
Benjamin Field was accused of befriending the dedicated churchgoer Mr Farquhar and persuading his target to add him to his will.
The prosecution in Field’s trial said he had secretly given the pensioner tranquiliser drugs and spiked his whisky as part of a plot to kill him and inherit his house and money.
In a summary of the ruling, the judges said that jurors at trial had “not been properly directed”, were given “defective” directions on how to reach a verdict. Lord Justice Andrew Edis, delivering the ruling, said the trial judge “effectively withdrew from the jury the question of whether Mr Farquhar’s decision to drink the whisky had been voluntary”.
Field will remain in prison while the appeal is still pending
