Church’s traditional views are blamed for the murder of gay OAP
by Steve Doughty, Mailonline:
The Church of England’s traditional views on sex and marriage were to blame for a gay academic’s murder, an inquiry said yesterday.
It found Peter Farquhar, 69, was vulnerable to exploitation by his 29-year-old killer Benjamin Field because he could not discuss his sexuality with the conservative evangelical members of his parish church.
Field seduced then slowly poisoned Mr Farquhar after persuading him to write him into his will.
The student, the son of a Baptist minister, then tried to manipulate Ann Moore-Martin, 83, again starting a sexual relationship in order to benefit from her will.
He was last year sentenced to at least 36 years for Mr Farquhar’s 2015 murder.
The report for the Diocese of Oxford by former social services chief Dr Adi Cooper pinned the blame on the attitudes of the congregation and clergy at Stowe parish church in Buckinghamshire, where Mr Farquhar was a member and Field a churchwarden.
It will pile new pressure on the Church as it struggles with the fallout from historic child sex abuse.
Dr Cooper said: ‘The current position taken by the Church of England, continuing to insist that sex is for married couples only… is not conducive to disclosure, particularly from young people, as well as exposing people to risk.
‘This needs to change and 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.’
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