#UK #England – A Satanist fascinated with vampires was detained indefinitely in hospital after he stole, slaughtered and dumped the bodies of animals outside and inside churches in the New Forest.
Benjamin Lewis, 48, of Totton, Hampshire, left the carcasses of lambs and deer at several churches and a mental-health facility in 2025. He often displayed the remains with inverted crosses, tarot cards and other occult symbols. Parishioners and farmers were left distressed, and on at least one occasion children saw the remains.
Lewis stole newborn lambs from two small local farms, cut their throats and placed the bodies at sites including St Theresa’s Church in Totton, Christ Church in Emery Down and St Peter’s Church in Bramshaw. A deer’s head was found with an inverted wooden cross; another was left in a pulpit atop a cross taken from an altar; a lamb was hung from a flagpole; and further remains appeared near a statue of the Virgin Mary. He also targeted Anchor House, a mental-health service where he had previously received treatment.
Hampshire Police noted that the incidents coincided with phases of the moon or dates in satanic calendars. Officers conducted surveillance at churches on those nights. Lewis was arrested in May 2025 and again in September after a further attack. DNA on a lamb’s remains helped link him to the crimes. Officers found deer blood and mixed animal blood in his car. A search of his home uncovered satanic symbols, ritual notes, sketches of vampires, handwritten remarks such as “it’s fun to be a vampire,” images of people cutting and sucking blood, and books about vampires, cults, serial killers and methods of killing humans.
Lewis had a long-standing obsession with vampires. He reportedly belonged to a vampire cult whose members drank one another’s blood and believed that consuming enough blood would grant immortality, prevent death and spare him from hell. In an earlier court appearance he identified himself as “Count Dracula.” As a teenager he had left a dead frog on a church cross; in 2003 he was jailed for 12 months after terrorizing a vicar and his family while claiming to be a vampire.
He pleaded guilty to five counts of religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress and two counts of theft of lambs relating to offences between February and August 2025. On 3 August 2026 at Southampton Crown Court, Judge William Mousley KC imposed a hospital order with restrictions under the Mental Health Act. The judge said the offences would otherwise have justified substantial prison sentences and that Lewis was likely to be detained for a significant period.
Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Gauruv Malhan told the court that Lewis had autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder and personality disorders, and saw himself as belonging to a vampire cult. There was concern that his risk could escalate from harming animals to harming people. Appearing by video link from hospital, Lewis apologized to the victims, saying he bore them no grudge and understood they had been worried about him.
Local residents described feeling afraid to walk alone at night. Clergy and farmers expressed shock at the deliberate targeting of churches and the cruelty to livestock. Lewis remains detained pending any future decision by a mental-health tribunal or the Secretary of State for Justice.
Image: St Theresa’s Church in Totton.
