Maids Moreton deaths: Plot to 'make woman die during sex' Published duration 3 May 2019

image copyright Thames Valley Police image caption Ann Moore-Martin died of natural causes in 2017

A church warden plotted for an 83-year-old woman to die during sex or by her choking on her dentures, a court heard.

Benjamin Field began a sexual relationship with Ann Moore-Martin, 57 years his senior, as part of a plot a few months after murdering her neighbour Peter Farquhar, 69, prosecutors allege.

A jury heard Mrs Moore-Martin acted if she was "hypnotised" by him.

Mr Field, 28, and Martyn Smith, 32, deny murder and conspiracy to murder.

Mr Farquhar, who died in October 2015 and Miss Moore-Martin, who died in May 2017, lived in the Buckinghamshire village of Maids Moreton.

image copyright Thames Valley Police image caption Peter Farquhar was a guest lecturer at the University of Buckingham

Oliver Saxby QC, prosecuting, told an Oxford Crown Court jury: "Ann Moore-Martin was gushing about Benjamin Field.

"She sounded like a love-struck teenager."

Jurors were told Mr Field bought her a sex toy and took a picture of a sex act.

Mr Field, the son of a Baptist minister, is accused alongside Mr Smith of plotting to make the church-going pensioner's death look like an accident, such as dying during sex, falling down the stairs or choking on her dentures, the court heard.

Mr Saxby told the jury that Mr Field suffocated Mr Farquhar and tried to kill Miss Moore-Martin "by a manner of means".

She died of natural causes, the court was told.

image copyright PA image caption Peter Farquhar lived at the house circled on the left, and Ann Moore-Martin on the right

Mr Field, of Wellingborough Road, Olney, denies murder, conspiracy to murder, possessing an article for the use in fraud and an alternative charge of attempted murder. He has admitted four charges of fraud and two of burglary.

His brother Tom Field, 24, of Wellingborough Road, Olney, Buckinghamshire, denies a single charge of fraud.

Mr Smith, of Penhalvean, Redruth, Cornwall, denies murder, conspiracy to murder, two charges of fraud and one of burglary.

The trial continues.