Quashed murder conviction puts spotlight on BBC

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Benjamin Field, a former church warden jailed for life for the murder of a university lecturer, has had his conviction overturned. Three senior judges at the UK’s court of appeal have now ordered a retrial. Field was sentenced to 36 years in 2019 after being found guilty of murdering Peter Farquhar in a small village in Buckinghamshire. Prosecutors claimed Field had given Farquhar tranquilisers and spiked his whisky to kill him and inherit his money. Field’s lawyers told an appeal hearing in March that there was no evidence Farquhar was “forced or deceived” into taking the medication or drinking the alcohol. This latest twist in the case puts the spotlight on the BBC, which in 2023 produced a four-part true crime drama on the story, The Sixth Commandment, starring Timothy Spall. At the time of writing it remains available on iPlayer.