MONSTER'S TARGETS
‘Gaslight’ murderer targeted up to 100 victims after getting job as pallbearer to meet elderly widows
A CHURCH warden yesterday found guilty of the “gaslight” murder of his elderly lover targeted up to 100 more victims, The Sun can reveal.
Ben Field, 28, got a job as a pallbearer and was warned for getting too familiar with widows.
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He also worked at a care home and cops who found his list of “clients” fear he plotted to kill them all — including his parents.
A source said: “He’d volunteer to drive them home after funerals.
“He’d ask how long they had been alone? When did their husband die? He was clearly fascinated with the elderly.”
Yesterday, following a ten-week trial, jurors convicted Baptist minister’s son Field of murdering lover Peter Farquhar, 69. He faces life in jail when sentenced.
Oxford crown court heard Field left lecturer Peter a “dribbling mess” after secretly giving him drugs and pure alcohol. He then passed off his death as caused by chronic boozing.
He made £140,0000 from selling Peter’s home and took a £20,000 inheritance.
KILLER GOT FUNERAL JOB TO MEET OAPs
Field also seduced Peter’s neighbour Ann Moore-Martin, 83 — persuading her to change her will using psychological manipulation known as “gaslighting” from the 1940 film Gaslight.
He sent sex toys and love letters and tried to persuade her to take her life. He also daubed messages on her mirror saying it was “God’s will” that she hand over her house to him.
He was cleared of her attempted murder in Maids Moreton, Bucks, but admitted defrauding her for financial gain.
While carrying out his crimes Field had other female lovers and met men on dating app Grindr for sex.
Following his arrest cops found notebooks revealing his murder plots.
Police fear Field killed another couple in the village — Harold, 89, and Elaine Meakin, 88.
Their bodies were cremated, taking all evidence with them.
The family of another unnamed woman also claim Field targeted her for her will.
Senior investigating officer Mark Glover, of Thames Valley Police, said: “I’m convinced he would have posed an ongoing danger to society had he not been stopped.”
Field manipulated and seduced Peter through Bible scripture.
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The ex-tutor at posh Stowe School admitted being besotted by Field even though he was aware he was “capable of evil.”
They met while Peter was a guest lecturer at the University of Buckingham. He invited Field into his home and they started sleeping together.
In March 2014 they had a unity ceremony at a church in West Hampstead, North West London.
Later that year Peter wrote his will, leaving the house to Field plus £20,000 and a silver wine holder.
In the next few months Peter suffered seizures, memory loss and falls after Field secretly poisoned him with psychedelic drugs.
Hallucinogenic 2C-B was sprinkled on his food and pure alcohol tipped in his drinks — which led medics to declare he was an alcoholic and suffering dementia.
The drugs made him see “hideous black insects” and “rays of light”.
Field even gave Peter a dose of 2C-B before he spoke at Stowe School. Peter later described it as “the worst day of my life.”
Peter was suffocated in his living room in October 2015. His body was found by his cleaner. Friends and even the coroner believed his death was due to heavy boozing.
By now Field had moved on to his list of 100 clients, some at Red House care home in Maids Moreton where he worked. The jury was not told he had a job as a £26-an-hour pallbearer in Milton Keynes.
Field was also in a sexual relationship with spinster Ann.
SENT SEX TOYS AND LOVE LETTERS TO 83-YEAR-OLD
He seduced her by fluttering his eyelashes on her cheek and filmed at least one sex act on his phone — later showing shocked co-workers.
He also bought Ann a book on suicide and spoke to her about killing herself. He bought sex toys hoping she’d die “during a vigorous session”. Friends said she was acting like a “lovestruck teenager”.
Ann signed over her inheritance after seeing “messages from God” on her mirror.
Soon after, she suffered a seizure and was rushed to a care home.
A solicitor alerted her niece and the will was reversed. The same lawyer had changed Peter’s will.
Ann died from a stroke in May 2017. When cops raided Field’s flat they discovered his plots in notebooks. He had listed the drugs and alcohol administered to Peter.
In one text Field wrote: “I love it when a plan comes together.”
Audio from Ben Field's 999 call to emergency services claiming Peter Farquhar had fallen and 'struck his head'
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He also rapped about killing and filmed himself tormenting Mr Farquhar, and an OAP at Red House.
Yesterday Peter’s family said in a statement: “Field robbed Peter of all the things that were precious to him. He did it all just to get some money, which we find astonishing.
“His actions have been unbelievably callous, and he has told lie after lie to achieve his goals, deceiving everyone he met.”
Top cop Mr Glover described Field as “cruel, calculating, manipulative, deceitful”, adding: “I don’t think evil is too strong a word.”
Field, of Olney, Bucks, will be sentenced at a date to be fixed. His other lovers included a 50-year-old divorcee and a mum of two, 57.
His brother Tom, 24, was found not guilty of a £27,000 dialysis machine fraud by pretending to Ann that he was seriously ill.
Magician Martyn Smith, 32, of Redruth, Cornwall, was cleared of conspiracy to murder Peter.
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CREMATION PREVENTED TWO PROBES
POLICE believe Ben Field may have killed at least two more elderly victims but their bodies were cremated taking any evidence with them.
Elaine Meakin, 88, and husband Harold, 89, lived in a house between those of victims Peter Farquhar, 69, and Ann Moore-Martin, 83.
Mrs Meakin died in February 2015 after suffering a heart attack in her kitchen in Maids Moreton, Bucks.
Her husband also suffered a fatal heart attack and was found dead at the bottom of the stairs in June 2016.
Neither death was believed to be suspicious at the time but Thames Valley Police later suspected 28-year-old Field could have been responsible.
However, both bodies had been cremated.
The spotlight turned towards Field after a burglary at the Meakins’ a month after Harold’s death.
Son Howard, 63, called cops after finding a door open and a bottle of Drambuie missing.
He told The Sun that police only came to investigate Field, who admitted the burglary in court, as a result of him reporting the raid.
Gaslighting: The term coined to mean psychological manipulation, where it originates and it's role within the #MeToo movement
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