Catching A Killer: A Diary from the Grave

You can still watch the whole film, and others in the Catching A Killer series, on All 4, here.

Peter Farquhar was found dead by his cleaner at home in the village of Maids Moreton in 2015, a half-drunk bottle of whiskey by his side. It was sad and unexpected, but at the time no-one thought the popular English teacher’s death was suspicious.

But 18 months later, when his neighbour, Ann Moore-Martin, also fell ill and died, the police decide to look again. A young would-be vicar and academic, Ben Field, had been in a ‘relationship’ with both Peter and Ann before they died, and had benefitted from both their wills.

As one detective puts it: "You’ve got two elderly people otherwise in excellent health. Then they meet Ben and suddenly they both fall ill in a really similar way and within months they’re dead.”

This extraordinary documentary by directors Jess Stevenson and BAFTA-winning Jezza Neumann follows the dogged police investigation after doubts are raised about Peter’s death, moving between witness interviews and detective briefings like a drama.

Woven through the film are entries from Peter’s personal journals in which he thanks God for finding Ben Field after years of loneliness. “Ben can love me!” he writes, declaring it a miracle.

But police suspect that Ben Field has performed a complex and deadly deception, slowly poisoning the man who loved him with hallucinogenic drugs.

As the film ekes out, Peter, a gay man who had never been in a relationship, thought he had found love, but really had met the devil in disguise.

Investigating Ben Field’s crimes by delving back in time through friends and loved ones’ memories of his and Peter’s relationship, police discover an almost unbelievable story of love and betrayal.

“It’s like something from Midsomer Murders,” one of the detectives says. And really, it is.