Yahoo News Police continue to probe double murder mystery in quiet Buckinghamshire village
One of the men arrested on suspicion of killing two pensioners in a Buckinghamshire village was staying with a third elderly woman when police launched their murder investigation, the Daily Telegraph can disclose.
Magician Martyn Smith, 31, had been living with a 100-year-old woman for several months after the pair were introduced by Ben Field.
The pensioners had lived just three doors from one another on a quiet street in Maids Moreton, a small village in Buckinghamshire.
Speaking at her home in Buckingham yesterday, the 100-year-old woman, who The Daily Telegraph has chosen not to name, said she had met Mr Smith and Mr Field through her friendship with Mr Farquhar.
She explained that Mr Field, who was living with Mr Farquhar at the time, had suggested Mr Smith move in with her because it would help him concentrate for upcoming exams.
But, just months after moving in, she was visited by local police officers who were checking on the arrangement. The 31-year-old later moved out. A spokesman for Thames Valley Police declined to comment.
Meanwhile, it can also be revealed that Mr Field, who is the son of a Baptist preacher, had considered training for the priesthood prior to the investigation.
A spokesman for the Oxford diocese said: “Ben Field contacted the Diocese of Oxford enquiring about training for ordination. He was listed to attend a selection conference for training in early 2017, though this invitation was withdrawn by the diocese."
The disclosures comes as sources close to the investigation claimed last night that as part of the ongoing enquiries police had been looking into Mr Field’s connections to an elderly care home in the area.
He is believed to have worked briefly as a care assistant there in recent years.
Mr Farquhar, who met Mr Field and Mr Smith whilst lecturing at Buckingham in 2011, died suddenly in 2015, with an inquest ruling that the cause of death was “acute alcohol poisoning”.
Mr Field had been lodging with the former teacher at the time and, and alongside Mr Smith, had set up a company called Farquhar Studies, which published a one of his novels and some of his poetry.
Police reexamined Mr Farquhar’s death in March last year, but when his neighbour Miss Moore-Martin died under suspicious circumstances in May, officers launched a murder investigation.
According to friends and source close to the investigation, one line of inquiry being pursued by the police is whether the pair were poisoned as part of a plot to get at their substantial estates.
Yesterday it emerged that Field had reportedly purchased outright a ground floor flat in Towcester just months before his arrest, which he is said to have paid £97,500 for.
The property is believed to be located close to the home of female friend Setara Pracha, a Buckingham University academic, who was interviewed by police officers on Tuesday when Field was arrested.
A neighbour of Ms Pracha said she had seen “lots of police” entering the property and waiting closeby on a nearby road.
She claimed that she had seen Field visiting Ms Pracha on a number of occasions, but added that she had not seen him for several months.
