KEYS CLANG
Thank you very much.
CHORAL SINGING
KEYS CLANG
That's much better. Thank you.
You're welcome.
MUSIC OVER HEADPHONES
I do beg your pardon, David, I missed that.
He's had his trousers stolen.
They've pulled out a pair of joggers for him.
Look like they'd been chewed by dogs.
I mean, who steals half a suit?
You could say to your client that, as he's already
in the face of overwhelming evidence,
decided to plead guilty to drugging and will fraud,
he might as well cop to the murders, too.
Spare his sartorial blushes.
Pleading guilty to the lesser charges
does not make him guilty of murder and attempted murder.
Seems like we've been waiting for ever for this day.
It's, er... It's good that we're starting with him
saying he's guilty for some of it.
That's what I'm told. It's... It's good.
He doesn't think he's guilty.
He's trying to make himself look better.
He'll get done for the fraud and the drugging,
get off for the murders.
It's a game to him.
This isn't a trial as far as he's concerned.
It's the Ben show.
He'll be loving every moment.
KEYS CLANG
Out you come. Right.
This way? Straight through.
In you come.
Thank you. Could you stop there?
That's it. Stop there.
OK, we're about to start.
It could be a while before you get called.
Is he going to get away with this?
I keep thinking that he's going to get away with it.
We've done everything we can in terms of the evidence,
but I can't make promises, Ian.
You know that.
I-I need some fresh air.
I'm just going to...
...get a walk.
I'll call if there's anything.
I'll get some coffees, yeah?
How are you doing?
He still hasn't pleaded guilty to drugging my aunt?
No, he hasn't.
I'm going to need a screen, Mark.
I can't have him watching me.
BELL CHIMES
Court rise.
Mr Saxby.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Some quick introductions.
I'm Oliver Saxby, Queen's Counsel, and I represent the prosecution.
My learned friend, David Jeremy Queen's Counsel,
represents Ben Field.
My learned friend, Tim Moloney, Queen's Counsel,
represents Martyn Smith.
And we appear before The Honourable Mr Justice Sweeney.
This case concerns the murder of a 69-year-old man,
Peter Farquhar,
and the attempted murder of an 83-year-old woman,
Ann Moore-Martin.
The motive for Ben Field was financial gain
but the means were intricate,
laced with a profound fascination in controlling and manipulating
and humiliating and killing.
To carry out his grand design,
Ben Field needed help,
and in Martyn Smith he found it.
Smith got carried away in Field's world of plotting,
deceit and death,
and you may end up thinking he was in thrall to him.
Over the course of this trial,
you will hear evidence that comes directly
from Ben Field's own journals.
You will hear of covert, regular drugging,
alcohol poisoning,
the numerous ways to make murder look like accident or suicide.
You will hear evidence of extreme gaslighting
and psychological manipulation.
All to frighten,
to isolate,
to make a person terrified for their sanity.
KNOCK ON DOOR Mr Farquhar.
Yes? We're ready for you now.
Poor Sue and Ian.
Think about what they're going to have to listen to.
I can't bear it.
My brother and I made a promise to each other,
that neither of us would ever let drink rule our lives.
I found it hard to believe that he would go against his word.
Peter just wasn't that kind of man.
But at the time, we were persuaded that he had a serious problem.
So we did what Ben advised.
And what was that?
BOTTLES CLINK
IAN SIGHS
Peter was so ill...
...that I wanted to do what was right for my brother.
When Peter came out of the care home,
was there any alcohol in the house?
No. How did a bottle of whisky come to be in the house?
It had been left there by Martyn Smith.
Please bring in the defendants.
KEYS CLANG
DOOR CREAKS
Thank you very much.
Do I just stay here? Yes, just stay there.
OK, thank you. You're welcome.
Is she there now? Yes.
What did your aunt tell you about Ben Field,
about their relationship?
She told me that he'd said he was in love with her.
And that he'd proposed to her.
At the time,
were you aware that there was an intimate...
...element to their relationship?
That he'd taken explicit photographs of your aunt?
No.
We know now that Ben Field was writing messages
on the mirrors in her house,
messages that your aunt believed were coming from God.
Did you know about the mirror writing?
No.
And how was her health...
...in this period where she was spending so much time with Field?
MONITORS BEEP
She told me that she had been having hallucinations
and nightmares.
I-I saw her having, er,
seizures and extreme hallucinations in the hospital.
And when she was in the care home?
They stopped.
She picked up.
But coming to terms with what had happened...
It was agony for her.
That she'd been seduced by him.
She was tortured by it.
BEN YAWNS
DISTANT SHOUTING
Did you enjoy having sex with her, Ben?
Ben, did you have sex with Peter as well?
BANGING ON VAN
I'm not coming back.
People taking photos, cameras everywhere.
The kids at school don't need their teacher's face
all over the news. Our girls certainly don't need it.
Where is the bloody car, Simon? It's just over there.
You know, you were brilliant in there.
You were. I mean, you really held it together.
Just... SIMON SIGHS
You know, I'm not the one to blame for this!
No?
You were the one who said he was just helping her out.
"Don't be so suspicious, Ann-Marie.
"He's just being a decent human being."
If you hadn't said that, then maybe... Maybe what?
Go on. No, say it. Maybe what?
Maybe she'd still be alive.
Or she wouldn't have died the way she did -
so ashamed of herself.
Pulled apart in court like her life was nothing,
just somebody that terrible things were done to!
GULL SQUAWKS
When Martyn was living with you, did you get on?
Yes, I thought we did.
It's the prosecution's case that Martyn conspired to defraud you
because a copy of your will was found on his laptop
and he'd printed copies using the university printer.
That's right.
Do you remember asking Martyn to help you
make amendments to your will?
No.
Can I put a few things to you to try and jog your memory?
Oh, you can. I don't know that you'll manage it.
You had some handwritten notes
and you sat with Martyn as he made the amendments.
The printer at your home wasn't working,
and so Martyn printed off three copies
at the university for you.
No, I don't remember that.
T-That's not to say that it didn't happen,
it's just that I don't remember it.
My memory is not as good as it was.
Thank you, Mrs Zettl.
Thank you.
SHE SOBS Oh, God!
DOOR OPENS
Wait there.
Thank you.
Can you wait there?
Just take some deep breaths, Martyn.
Keep your head up. You've done nothing wrong.
Thank you.
How many bedrooms were there in Mr Farquhar's house?
Three.
There was the main room, which was Peter's.
I had the box room.
And there was the study.
Ben slept in there on a fold-up bed.
Were you aware of the intimate nature
of Ben and Peter's relationship?
No.
N-Not at the time.
Not till much later.
When you were living at Peter's,
did you have any psychological issues?
Yes, I had counselling for anxiety and depression.
Did you know that Ben Field was defrauding
and covertly drugging Peter Farquhar?
No.
When Peter was unwell, would you give him
his normal medications?
Yes, er...
B-Ben would tell me what to give him and at what times.
Were you surprised when the neurologist
Peter consulted gave a diagnosis of alcohol abuse?
Yes. I-I didn't think that was a problem for him.
But... I believed it.
Who told you the diagnosis?
Ben did.
When Peter Farquhar came out of the care home,
recovered from his symptoms,
you stayed at his house the night before he died.
PHONE PINGS
I-I'd left the bottle hidden in the bed.
I texted Ben in the morning to say I'd left it there
and that Peter wasn't happy he brought it.
What did you do the rest of that day and the night Peter Farquhar died?
I just went to the pub with friends.
MUSIC BLARES
Drank too much.
And when you discovered Peter Farquhar was dead,
having found the whisky and drunk it?
I was very upset.
Very... I, er...
I felt terrible.
How could you not know about the nature of the relationship
between Peter Farquhar and Ben Field?
I didn't know.
They were sleeping in the same bed,
next door to your room.
It was under your nose.
I-I was working.
I always had my earphones on.
Did you know about Ben Field's relationship
with Ann Moore-Martin?
That it was romantic?
Yes. I thought that was their business.
It's not for me to judge.
Did you know he was defrauding Ann Moore-Martin?
No. No, not till much later. No.
But you knew Ben was writing messages on Ann's mirrors,
apparently from God,
and those messages were part of his plot to inherit her house?
I didn't know about his plan. I didn't know.
Ann wanted to hear from angels.
I thought it was about, er, trying to make her happy
with something that she wanted.
Are you going to keep to this line? What line?
That you didn't know that Ben Field was defrauding
Ann Moore-Martin and Peter Farquhar,
that Ben Field was drugging Peter Farquhar,
that Ben Field was in an intimate relationship with Peter Farquhar.
I didn't know.
That's convenient, because if you did know...
...that would put you right at the centre
of a murder plot, wouldn't it?
HE WHIMPERS
Oh, Jesus Christ.
Mr Blake? Mr Blake? Mr Blake, a question?
Simon? Gabrielle Aide, Daily Mail.
Just wanted to ask about your wife's aunt and Ben Field?
My family are in there. Pricks! I just want to talk...
Simon, this way! She'll be paid for an exclusive interview.
It'll be good to get her side of the story!
It's pretty shocking what her aunt got up to!
Fuck off.
Ann-Marie?
Tell us more about your Auntie Ann...
DOOR BANGS ...and Ben Field! Ann-Marie?
How long have they been out there? Long enough.
Auntie Ann isn't supposed to be the one on trial.
Hey, don't worry about them, girls.
They'll be gone soon.
Yeah.
Let's finish the film, OK?
Ready?
The defence calls Benjamin Luke Field.
I do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare
and affirm that the testimony I will give shall be the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
You admit that you defrauded,
drugged and gaslighted Mr Farquhar?
Yes, I did it vindictively.
You admit to a fraud perpetrated on Ann Moore-Martin
that relates to her will? Yes.
Now, in addition to what you've admitted
in relation to drugging, defrauding and gaslighting Mr Farquhar,
you are also charged with his murder.
Did you murder him?
I did not.
When you administered drugs to him and gaslighted him,
did you intend to kill him?
No.
Did you conspire to murder Ann Moore-Martin?
I did not.
Did you attempt to murder her? I did not.
Did you give her drugs or try to poison her?
Never.
How do you think Ann Moore-Martin felt
as she pieced together the deceit that you had practised upon her?
Incredible hurt and anger at being betrayed by me,
and sadness at being my victim.
It's a miserable thing.
Are you just mouthing the sort of things
that you think you should be saying?
Or are you expressing true sentiments?
True sentiments.
But you have lied.
To Mr Farquhar and his family.
To Ann Moore-Martin and her family.
To Martyn Smith. To the Church.
To everybody.
I lived a very cruel and deceitful life, yes.
Why did you initially start drugging Mr Farquhar?
To get some sleep.
I was working long shifts at the care home.
I'd be exhausted and want to sleep, but...
...Peter had an active fantasy life on the internet.
He... He'd stay awake, looking at particular websites.
Then he'd wake me up, lifting up the duvet to look at me,
touching my body,
taking photos of me while I was asleep,
which would wake me up...
Liar!
Liar, liar!
Damn you!
Damn you! Damn you to hell!
That's how it started.
Later, it was motivated by cruelty.
I gave him psychoactives to be cruel.
I wanted him to be...
...publicly humiliated. DOOR CREAKS
He's trying to make the jury hate Peter because he was gay.
That's what he's trying to do.
Come on. Let's go, yeah?
The Crown's case is that you murdered Peter,
either by giving him alcohol and benzodiazepines
so that he suffered asphyxiation, or...
...in the event of that not being enough...
...you suffocated him.
No.
I... I went to see him that night,
we drank ginger beer,
watched some television.
Then I left to see friends for my birthday
and the last I saw of him was waving goodbye at the front door.
You didn't block his airway and cause his death?
No.
I was never physically violent to Peter.
I wrote violent things.
When I was angry and irritated with him,
I'd fantasise hitting him with a hammer.
But I didn't do it.
It helped to write it down. It drained the anger.
I've always used writing that way.
I... I write a thought and then it's done.
And I-I'm trying to be more interesting to myself
when I write so sometimes it's more extreme.
To be interesting.
The Crown's case is that you meticulously planned
Mr Farquhar's murder in your journals.
In the same books I write how I'm going to take over
Greenland and the Pitcairn Islands.
But I'm hardly going to do that, am I?
Invade Greenland?
They're just thoughts.
Not plans for action.
I'm... I'm thinking with a pen in my hand.
I've considered the issue of interiority
in relation to myself and the way I live.
Explain interiority?
Living inside your own head.
Being kind of an ironic spectator on your own life.
The Crown's case is that Martyn Smith
was your co-conspirator and aided and abetted you.
Martyn knew nothing.
I rigged Peter's daily medication so he would be taking them
when Martyn was there.
I abused his genuine nature.
I feel very ashamed of how I manipulated him.
How did you feel when Peter Farquhar died?
Very unhappy.
I... I treated him badly.
I grieved his loss.
I miss him.
Thank you.
Ten o'clock tomorrow morning for your cross-examination, Mr Saxby.
Court rise.
28-year-old Benjamin Field and 32-year-old Martyn Smith
both deny the charges...
MOBILE PHONE RINGS
Hello? Oh, hi, Simon?
Er, it's Jeni here from the Daily...
PHONE CLATTERS
MOBILE PHONE RINGS
LANDLINE RINGS
RINGING STOPS
LANDLINE RINGS
What's wrong with you?
Look what he's done to us!
Everything is Ben.
Everything is fucking Ben! BANGING
Argh! Argh!
Oh, well done. Yeah, punch a wall - that makes sense.
Shit!
HE GASPS
OK, one last time.
Which exhibit proves murder?
Same drugs as found in Peter's hair.
Field and Smith's fingerprints on the sachets.
Field's journals.
He writes about endgames for Ann and Peter.
Filming Peter when he's hallucinating.
Taking photos of Ann to blackmail her.
He calculates the ratio of alcohol to sedative -
at what point would it be fatal?
Possible use of force-feeding... Possible, not proven.
Which exhibit will prove murder?
What's Field's defence?
That he wasn't there. Plain and simple.
"I wasn't there, M'lud.
"Prove that I was."
So which exhibit, which piece of evidence,
proves without a shadow of doubt that he was there?
There isn't a single one.
It's all of them.
All of the coincidences.
I loved her, too, you know?
I mean, I really loved her.
I know you did.
I know.
It's just...
...while this is going on.
When he's convicted,
when he's in prison and there's justice for Auntie Ann,
and not what he's admitted to,
what he's lying about,
when he's found guilty of that,
it'll be over.
I promise.
And what if he doesn't get convicted for her?
That's not going to happen.
It does happen.
Guilty people get away with it.
It happens all the time.
KEYS CLANG
BELL CHIMES
CHIMING CONTINUES
Do you feel responsible for Peter Farquhar's death?
That he drank the whisky was something he did, by himself.
It killed him.
I had no involvement.
You like words, don't you?
Words. The written word is a reprieve from feelings.
You said as much to my learned friend.
If I said as much, then, yes.
You had thoughts of killing him?
Yes.
Thoughts.
You wrote...
"I moved in so he could die."
You did move in. He did die.
That speaks for itself.
It depends who's saying it.
Peter was frightened of dying alone.
When we first started sharing a bed, he said, "Now I can die happy."
I'd like to play the jury a rap that you composed.
Thank you, Sergeant Earl.
♪ Ben means a mountain You're amounting to nothing
♪ Benjamin's my right hand by which I'll allow you to suffer
♪ And Field is the soil of the ground I'll put you under
♪ You'll never get to the level that I'd likened to an Everest
♪ A fitter thinker, guess you'll never be the cleverest
♪ Let's keep him guessing
♪ He's my guest and I'll find that he'll need help
♪ The hospitality I give him is a hospital visit
♪ And nobody else is gonna come to support
♪ Because we all know this faggot needs to be thrown overboard
♪ And now it's time for a crimson tide
♪ And I am king and I will reside on the throne
♪ And you know
♪ That I can kill this guy. ♪
JURORS MURMUR
You were smiling.
It... It was funny, hearing it in this serious environment.
Incongruous.
Are those words a reprieve from feeling?
They're battle bars.
They're composed in the combative style of that art form.
You're good at lying
and duping people?
I've admitted as much.
Peter was taken in.
He was in love with you.
Did you ever think there was a time
when he'd start to piece it together?
Before he rumbled you?
I can't recall if I thought that or not.
Let's look at the evening of Peter's death.
Your case, your account of it, is that Peter drank
half a bottle of very strong whisky.
That's your case.
Yes, but I... I wasn't present.
We drank ginger beer, I left.
Had you slipped him something?
No. You had in the past dosed him with eight times the normal amount
of the sleeping tablet he'd been prescribed.
Eight times the amount.
You have, in the past, dosed him with all manner of substance.
But not that night? No. You'd adulterated his drink before.
Port in red wine, vodka in whisky,
poteen, a notoriously strong Irish whiskey in his usual nightcap.
He had no idea what he was really drinking, did he?
But not that night.
No. Just ginger beer and then you left.
OK, let's consider your version.
Let's imagine what that looks like.
DOG BARKS
Oh, lights, Martyn.
HE SIGHS
HE SIGHS WEARILY
What term in zoology derives from the Latin for "to sit"
and means immobile? BELL ON TV
Southampton, Sadler. Sessile.
Sessile is correct.
APPLAUSE
CORK SQUEAKS
UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE CONTINUES
HE GULPS
TV OFF
CORK SQUEAKS
DRINK POURS
Did he often drink in the dark? Not that I'm aware.
I can't tell you what his reasons were for turning off the lights.
You were there when he died, weren't you? No.
"As we remark on Peter Farquhar
"Be reminded Peter died
"Repeated disorder
"Hoist his petard
"Went unpardoned and petrified."
"Petrified". Was he?
I don't know. I wasn't there. Why use that word?
In the sense that he's frozen in time.
Petrified means terrified.
Well, you do know words can have more than one meaning.
Let's not be silly.
You said Mr Farquhar was frightened of dying alone.
Well, he didn't, did he? He did, because I wasn't there.
Petrified, was he?
I don't know, I wasn't there.
Hammer. Poteen. Strap.
The strap is suffocation?
Did you suffocate Mr Farquhar?
I wasn't there.
How was your fingerprint on the inside of the glass?
I don't know. Probably from when I'd moved it some other time.
Why was the glass on the floor? I don't know. I wasn't there.
Your defence case is that you did all these things -
the drugging, the gaslighting, the defrauding -
because you're a nasty person?
An unhappy person who enjoyed lying,
who was cruel and deceitful for the pleasure of it,
who was an, er... What was it?
"An ironic spectator of his own life,
"who wanted to be interesting to himself."
All your journals, your plans, the raps, the poems, the plots,
just thoughts, just words, thinking with a pen in your hand.
Not guilty of murder, just nasty.
All of this was nothing to do with killing Peter Farquhar
and attempting to kill Ann Moore-Martin.
BEN SCOFFS
That's a cartoon version of my case.
All right,
let's consider the Crown's version,
with the agreed facts in mind, with your words to guide us.
Let us contemplate Peter Farquhar's last night.
DOG BARKS
HE SIGHS
MICROWAVE HUMS
MICROWAVE PINGS
University Challenge
DOOR OPENS
Hey.
I wasn't expecting you tonight.
Thought I'd pop in, see how you're doing.
Did you?
You sulking?
I'm watching the television.
You're sulking.
I'm making tea. You want one?
Mm.
What's this bottle doing here?
Martyn left it.
Did you drink some?
I was pouring it down the sink.
But then I thought, "No, no, that's not fair. It's Martyn's.
"Ben can take it to him."
What a strange thing to do.
Bringing alcohol into the house
when you'd arranged to have all my wine and spirits collected
by my brother and taken away because I can't control my drinking,
when I've been so desperately ill,
when I was so scared, when I thought I was dying,
when I told you I thought I was dying,
you bring whisky into my house.
What a wicked, strange thing.
Calm down, it was a present.
Got left behind by mistake. No need to shit your pants over it.
CROCKERY CLINKS
HE SNIFFS
Nothing you ever do is by mistake, Ben.
For fuck's sake.
You see, I've been thinking... Now that I can think.
Now that my head is clear.
I think you liked it when I was in a care home.
I think you wanted me to drink that whisky.
"Poor Peter. Poor sad, old, pathetic Peter,
"the dipsomaniac, closeted queen.
"He'd better go back into the care home."
And then you could carry on using my house as your own.
I think that was your plan.
Hmm...
I like to think I'm more ambitious than that.
How quickly I forgave you everything.
Every lie, every transgression.
Because you were beautiful.
Because I was so entirely in love with you.
I was the more deceived.
Here comes fucking Hamlet.
You never had any feelings for me at all.
No affection.
No respect. No love.
Peter... Did you?
I weally, weally woved you.
You are a cruel young man.
And then shall the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf be unstopped.
I see you now.
HE SNIFFLES
HE SLURPS
HE CALLS OUT
Help!
HE MOANS
AGITATED MOANS
Help me, please, please.
Argh! CROCKERY CLATTERS
PETER MOANS
Shh, shh, shh, shh!
PETER GASPS
No...
Ben... please.
PETER GASPS
Ben... BOTTLE IS UNCORKED
HE WHIMPERS
He didn't die alone, did he?
And he WAS terrified, wasn't he?
You know that
because you were there.
I deny that completely.
Words.
It all depends on who's saying them.
"Went unpardoned and petrified".
You were present.
You were there.
Glorifying in his fear.
I'll call you later.
BIRDSONG
HE SOBS
HE SNIFFLES
BELL CHIMES
Court rise!
Bring the jury in, please.
My Lord, the jury have been in deliberation for 19 days.
Would the defendants please stand?
Would the foreman of the jury please stand?
To my next question, please answer yes or no.
Have you reached verdicts upon which you are all agreed?
Yes.
On the count of conspiracy to murder Peter Anthony Scott Farquhar,
how do you find the defendant Martyn Smith,
guilty or not guilty?
Not guilty.
MURMURING
HE GASPS
Not guilty.
On the count of attempted murder of Ann Moore-Martin,
how do you find the defendant Benjamin Luke Field?
Guilty or not guilty?
Not guilty.
On the count of the murder of Peter Anthony Scott Farquhar,
how do you find the defendant Benjamin Luke Field?
Guilty or not guilty?
Guilty.
MURMURING
Guilty.
I'd like to thank the jury
for their hard work and dedication in this matter.
Thank you.
Martyn Smith, you are free to go. HE WHIMPERS
Benjamin Field,
you will return to this court at a future date for sentencing.
MARTYN WHIMPERS AND SOBS
Just breathe, Martyn.
It's over now.
HE GASPS Thank you.
PHONE RINGS
Hello?
OK.
Thanks for telling me.
I used to bring you here when you were little.
Just the two of us. To feed the ducks.
And then we'd have an ice cream for a treat.
With raspberry sauce.
Yes!
And you'd get it everywhere.
I still do - ask Simon.
Face, hands, behind my ears...
THEY CHUCKLE
Ooh!
Oh. Is it kicking?
Like a horse!
Here...
Ah!
It makes me so happy. Hmm.
A new life.
Aren't we lucky!
SIREN WAILS
Good afternoon.
GATE SLAMS
Today, Ben Field has been sentenced to life imprisonment
and will serve a minimum of 36 years for his crimes.
The extent of his planning, deception and cruelty
towards his victims is frankly staggering,
and I do not believe he has shown an ounce of remorse or contrition.
If he is sorry for anything,
it is that he got caught
and he is now facing the next 36 years in prison.
Thank you.
Hmph!
According to prosecutors... Good.
...they were both lonely and vulnerable,
living three doors away from each other
in the picturesque village of Maids Moreton...
DOOR SLAMS
KEY TURNS IN LOCK
DOOR SLAMS SHUT
They're here.
Thanks.
Thank you.
I wanted us all to meet.
I've got something I want to say.
I know you've been put through so much pain.
Well, so have you.
No, but you'd said goodbye to Peter.
You'd had two years believing a thing
that you could live with,
that he'd died.
You had your lives.
And then I threw a rock and smashed everything.
And you had to find out all these...
...these terrible things that had been done.
You stopped him, Ann-Marie.
You stopped him.
Pale beneath the blaze
Hung the transparent foliage
And I watched some broad and sunny leaf
And loved to see the shadow
Of the leaf and stem above
Dappling its sunshine
Whilst thou stood gazing or...
...When all was still
Flew creaking o'er thy head
And had a charm for thee
My gentlehearted Charles
To whom no sound is dissonant
Which tells of life.