Man, 26, seduced 83-year-old woman then plotted with magician friend to murder her, court hears

‘She sounded like a lovestruck teenager,’ prosecutor says

A 26-year-old who man who entered a relationship with an 83-year-old woman plotted to murder her and benefit from her estate, a court has heard.

Benjamin Field began a relationship with Ann Moore-Martin as part of a “gaslighting” plot to get her to change her will and then “make sure they died”, Oxford Crown Court heard on Friday.

Ms Moore-Martin was described by prosecutors as ”gushing” over him and acting as though she was “hypnotised”.

She lived in Maids Moreton, a Buckinghamshire village and died 18 months after a neighbour, Peter Farquhar, Mr Field’s previous alleged victim.

“She said she loved him. She said they would sit together on the sofa and he would put his arm round her and fluff his eyelashes down her cheek,” Oliver Saxby QC, told the court.

“Ann Moore-Martin was gushing about Benjamin Field. She sounded like a lovestruck teenager. It was as if she was hypnotised by him.”

Mr Field, who was 26 at the time, has admitted fraud by pretending to be in a relationship with the pensioner.

He is also accused of conspiring with his friend Martyn Smith, a magician, to murder Ms Moore-Martin.

The 28-year-old is accused of plotting to kill Ms Moore-Martin and of planning to make her death look like an accident, in ways such as dying during sex, falling down the stairs and choking on her dentures, or suicide.

He denies the allegations.

“Their relationship became sexual and regularly so – indeed, this was of course one of the ways Benjamin Field envisaged Ann Moore-Martin dying; and he took a photograph of one act – this was her on him – using his phone,” Mr Saxby told the court.

Mr Field has admitted defrauding Ms Moore-Martin of £4,000 to buy a car.

But he is also accused of defrauding the former teacher of a further £27,000 to buy a dialysis machine, in a plot which involved his brother Tom Field.

Mr Field denies this charge.

Prosecutors allege that Mr Field and Mr Smith told Ms Moore-Martin that Tom Field was seriously ill and needed hi-tech equipment to help him study at Cambridge University.

As part of the dialysis fraud, Benjamin Field is accused of writing messages with white marker pens on mirrors in the deeply religious Ms Moore-Martin’s home, purporting to be from God.

“Ann Moore-Martin said she thought they were messages from God,” Mr Saxby said.

“In her mind, it was a validation for giving money to Tom Field for the dialysis. Sometimes, the mirrors moved.”

Mr Field is also accused of murdering the pensioner’s neighbour, Peter Farquhar, who he was in a relationship with before Ms Moore-Martin.

The former English teacher died in October 2015 and the 28-year-old is alleged to have suffocated him.

Prosecutors argued that Mr Field tried to kill Ms Moore-Martin “by a manner of means”.

He had even written a suicide note purporting to be from her but she later died in May 2017, from natural causes.

“There is no doubt he wanted her dead. He was promiscuous in the idea of death,” Mr Saxby said.

Benjamin Field and Martyn Smith continue to deny charges of murder, conspiracy to murder and possession of an article for the use in fraud.

Mr Field also denies an alternative charge of attempted murder but has admitted four charges of fraud and two of burglary.

In addition, Mr Smith denies two charges of fraud and one of burglary.

Tom Field, Mr Field’s brother, denies a single charge of fraud.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by agencies