A retired teacher who was abused and murdered by a churchwarden was vulnerable to being exploited because he hid his homosexuality from the conservative church he attended, an independent investigation has found.
Peter Farquhar, 69, was subjected to physical and mental abuse by Benjamin Field, who killed him in 2015. Field, then 28, was jailed for life last year after admitting poisoning, gaslighting and defrauding Farquhar to inherit his wealth.
Field had duped Farquhar into a fake relationship with him, undergoing a “betrothal” ceremony before persuading the older man to change his will and lacing his food and drinks with alcohol and drugs.
After Field’s trial, the Church of England commissioned an independent safeguarding consultant to review the circumstances surrounding Farquhar’s murder and to advise how vulnerable adults in the Buckinghamshire parishes of Stowe and Maids Moreton could be kept safe.
Adi Cooper’s report, published by the diocese of Oxford on Friday, found that the “policies of the Church of England regarding homosexual practice and approach to sexuality and relationships put Peter Farquhar at risk and vulnerable to exploitation”.
“A culture which supported openness and transparency would have better safeguarded Peter Farquhar. While people continue to feel forced to hide or lie about their sexuality, they can become vulnerable to exploitation, as was Peter Farquhar.”
Field, a Baptist minister’s son, began attending Stowe church after befriending Farquhar and moving into his home in nearby Maids Moreton. He volunteered as secretary of the parish council and deputy churchwarden, and expressed an interest in becoming a priest.
“This interest in the church was a scam: during his trial it became clear that Ben Field saw ordination as a route to being able to harm more people,” the report says.
Stowe church had “a strong identity” and was seen as a close-knit community. “It has an evangelical theology and conservative culture, which includes ‘traditional’ views regarding homosexuality and homosexual practice.”
Farquhar’s sexual orientation was “known but not acknowledged by most people who knew him. He struggled to reconcile his own conservative Christian beliefs with his sexual orientation.”
Farquhar and Field “agreed to keep their relationship secret, which was understandable in the context of the attitudes of many of the Stowe church parishioners … In Stowe church, homosexuality and homosexual practice were generally perceived as deviant and wrong, so he could not be honest about his emotional relationship with Ben Field.”
Field “groomed and coerced, and emotionally and psychologically abused” Farquhar and another resident of Maids Moreton, Anne Moore-Martin, an 83-year-old retired Catholic headteacher, “by exploiting their needs for intimacy”. Field admitted to deceiving and manipulating Moore-Martin, but was acquitted of charges of conspiring and attempting to murder her.
In Farquhar’s case, “a culture of secrecy and non-disclosure generally regarding homosexuality” may have made it difficult for people to raise concerns about his relationship with Field, the report says.
“Negative attitudes towards homosexuality and homosexual practice in the Church of England reinforce internalised homophobia … There is an issue here for the wider church to consider how it offers support to its lesbian and gay members, not to ‘cure’ and ‘heal’ them as this would be a deeply homophobic response.”
The C of E’s insistence that sex is for married heterosexual couples only “may lead people to lie about the reality of their sexual lives” and “exposes people to risk”, the report says. “The church should consider how to make it possible for people to be honest about their relationships, as well as being a safe place for lesbians and gay men.”
Although murder is rare, “the grooming and abuse of vulnerable elderly people and rural elderly congregations is not so unusual in the Church of England”.
The report makes 13 recommendations for improving safeguarding and vetting volunteers, and calling for a “more open culture within the church”.
Steven Croft, the bishop of Oxford, said: “This review helps to challenge the commonly held view that safeguarding is solely about preventing child abuse, and it is a clarion call for further improvements to our work on LGBTI+ inclusivity, our selection processes for clergy and volunteers, and the training and support the church provides.”
The Stowe congregation had developed a “much more open culture” following Field’s trial, he added.
The Oxford diocese , which has an LGBT chaplaincy service, “acknowledges and celebrates” the contribution that LGBT Christians make to the church.
Jayne Ozanne, who campaigns for LGBT equality in the C of E, said: “It is tragic that it takes the horrific death of Peter Farquhar for the church to wake up to the deadly cost of its attitude to homosexuality. Until we recognise the significant harm being done because of the our refusal to embrace those of us who are gay, the C of E will remain a serious safeguarding risk. Its culture of secrecy and hypocrisy must end, and it must start at the top.”
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