Evil Maids Moreton murderer could have become ‘one of UK’s worst serial killers’
Evil Maids Moreton murderer Benjamin Field had the potential to be one of Britain’s worst ever serial killers and “shared traits” with Harold Shipman, a top criminologist has claimed.
'Psychopath' Field is serving a minimum 36-year term for killing Peter Farquhar, 69, in the Buckinghamshire village of Maids Moreton, shocking the local community and the nation as a whole for the calculated nature of his sickening crime.
Professor David Wilson has studied some of Britain’s most evil serial killers and said he has “no doubt” Field would have gone on a killing spree to rival the very worst if he had not been brought to justice.
Professor Wilson compared him to Shipman, Britain’s most prolific serial killer with as many as 250 victims, for the way he embedded himself in the Buckinghamshire community in his devious bid to get away with murder.
The expert said: “I have no doubt that if he hadn’t been stopped, he would have gone on to become a serial killer.
“He had a list of 100 people who were supposedly going to be useful to him, and I’ve no doubt that by being useful to him it would have included murder.
“He had embedded himself in some of the key institutions of the town and of Middle England more generally.
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“We were astounded by Harold Shipman, because he was a trusted local GP. And so Shipman was using medicine to gain access to people he was eventually going to prey upon.
“And Field used education and faith.”
Earlier this year Field lost an appeal against his murder conviction for killing Mr Farquhar.
A court had heard the younger man duped Mr Farquhar into a fake relationship in a bid to get him to change his will and make Field the main beneficiary.
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The trial heard Field carried out a sustained “gaslighting” plot to make Mr Farquhar question his sanity, lacing his drinks and food with drugs in the lead up to his death in October 2015.
The murderer suffocated Mr Farquhar when he was too weak to resist, and left a half-empty bottle of whisky in the room to create the misconception he had drunk himself to death.
Professor Wilson is convinced Field would have got away with murder if he had not targeted Mr Farquhar’s neighbour, Ann Moore-Martin.
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She died of natural causes in 2017 and Field was accused of plotting to kill her, but he was cleared.
The kill refused to engage with Professor Wilson in the writing of his book A Plot to Kill, but he believes he went on to target Miss Moore-Martin because he thought he was “untouchable”.
He said: “Field was a risk-taker. Once you embed yourself in a community that way, you feel you can talk yourself out of anything.
“Peter’s family were surprised when Field was arrested, in the same way that several of Shipman’s patients who survived set up a fighting fund to pay his legal fees.
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“He was operating in a completely parallel universe where he believed he was all powerful. To do this was to target people he would eventually kill."
Professor Wilson thinks there may have been a sexual element to Field’s crimes and believes he may be a gerontophile – someone who is sexually attracted to the elderly.
And he wants to warn people about the dangers of thinking murders only happen in “troubled inner city estates”.
Professor Wilson said: “Murder can happen anywhere. And it’s how the murderer is able to operate in these communities that is worth thinking about.
“He had the potential to become one of our country’s worst serial killers and Buckingham dodged a bullet.
“I describe Field as a ‘less talented Mr Ripley.’ He could have been him but had less talent than the fictional character.”
A Plot to Kill by Professor David Wilson is out now.
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