A man claiming vampire-like tendencies, who orchestrated a sinister campaign against Christian communities by depositing animal heads and slaughtered lambs at churches, has now been admitted to a hospital.
Benjamin Lewis, aged 48, instilled fear among church members in the area, as the discovery of decaying animal carcasses and inverted crosses during church services discouraged attendance.
At a previous court appearance, Lewis identified himself as ‘Count Dracula’. His obsession with the mythical creature led him to drink animal blood under the belief that it would grant eternal life.
Over the past year, Lewis engaged in a spree of theft and killing of farm animals, leaving their remains at numerous churches across New Forest, Hampshire, with 13 such incidents recorded.
One particularly notable incident during the Easter period saw Lewis leaving a tarot card beside a deceased deer’s head at a church, marking it as his unmistakable calling card.
He also left a deer’s head on the gate outside of vulnerable adult accommodation in which he had previously stayed.
Officers investigating the spate of attacks noticed the animals were being left on significant dates in the Satanic calendar and stationed officers outside different churches on specific dates in a bid to snare him.
He was eventually caught out by CCTV and forensic evidence – after his DNA was found on one of the lambs.
Benjamin Lewis, who has been detained under the Mental Health Act after he placed deer heads and slaughtered lambs with inverted crosses at churches across the New Forest
Benjamin Lewis pictured at court in 2003 when he was found guilty of harrassing a vicar
Benjamin Lewis, outside Southampton Crown Court, in 2003 where he was jailed for 12 months
Items including sketches of vampires and dead sheep, newspaper cuttings relating to death, satanic symbols and upside-down crosses were found in his house.
Lewis, of Totton, Southampton, pleaded guilty to five counts of religiously aggravated harassment and two counts of theft of lambs between February and August 2025 at a hearing last year.
He was sentenced at Southampton Crown Court on Monday when he was detained under the Mental Health Act.
Laura Deuxberry, prosecuting, said: ‘The church is supposed to be a place of sanctuary and this made people fear going to their sanctuary.’
The court heard Lewis had a ‘fascination with vampires’ from a young age and left a dead frog on a cross outside a church when he was 13.
In 2003 he was jailed for a campaign of harassment against a village vicar.
The most recent offences occurred between February and July last year but police believe he may have been targeting churches for years beforehand.
PC Jessica Surman, of Hampshire Constabulary, said it was ‘the most bizarre’ she has ever worked on.
Lewis believes he is a ‘reincarnated vampire’, she said.
‘He believes [drinking blood] will prolong his life and if he drinks it enough he won’t go to hell, he won’t die and he will become a vampire,’ she said.
The court heard Lewis first struck in February 2025 when he left a deer’s head along with an inverted wooden cross at St Theresa’s Church in Totton.
This was followed by a lamb being placed on a light fixture below a statue of Mary along with another inverted cross.
Ms Deuxberry said that Canon Simon Treloar had initially attempted to make light of the first incident by telling the media that he would have ‘preferred sausages’ and later sausages were left at the church as well as the animal bodies.
The prosecutor added that children had seen the dead lamb and been ‘very distressed as a result’.
Also in February 2025, the Rev David Potterton at Christ’s Church Emery Down found the head of the deer in the pulpit and an inverted cross.
Lewis also targeted St Peter’s Church in Bramshaw, where a dead lamb was placed on a flagpole with a tarot card next to it and a deer’s head ‘crawling with maggots’ was placed on a pew on a later date.
At Christ’s Church in Colbury, a lamb was placed on a tree stump with an inverted stone cross next to it.
In April last year, a deer’s head with an inverted cross was put on the gates of the Anchor House mental health facility in Totton where Lewis had previously been treated.
In a separate incident in April 2025, five-to-10 day-old lambs, costing £180 each, belonging to Sarah Harrison from Parsonage Farm in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, had their necks cut and then hung from a flagpole at St Peter’s Church.
Miss Harrison, a local farmer whose family had lived in the New Forest for generations, said she considered moving away because she thought ‘if he can do that then what else can he do?’
She said that the way the lambs’ necks were cut ‘like one would in commercial markets’.
Ms Deuxberry said there had been a number of previous incidents dating back five years that the prosecution were not pursuing.
He was arrested in May 2025 when deer blood was found in the boot of his car, with mixed animal blood in the vehicle.
When his home was searched by police, officers found satanic symbols and ritual notes as well as sketches of vampires and ‘concerning books about vampires and how best to kill humans’.
A suitcase containing inverted crosses and images of ‘people cutting and sucking blood from each other’ was also found.
He was arrested for a second time in September 2025 when officers found sketches of vampires and dead sheep as well as newspaper cuttings relating to death, satanic symbols and upside down crosses.
Officers also found handwritten notes saying ‘it’s fun to be a vampire’ and a series of books about cults, serial killers, and ‘The Real Twilight’
Dr Gauruv Malhan, a consultant forensic psychiatrist, told the court that he believed Lewis had autism, mixed personality disorder, OCD, a possible mild learning disorder and had ‘fantastical thinking patterns’.
He said that during an assessment Lewis had tried to assault him and had to be restrained and secluded.
He highlighted Lewis’s history of self harm and said that there was a ‘risk of escalation from harming animals to harming humans as well’.
Sentencing Lewis, who appeared by videolink wearing a black suit, Judge William Mousley KC said: ‘You killed, maimed and disfigured animals and displayed parts of their bodies.
‘What is clear is that these offences taken together would justify a substantial period of imprisonment.
‘That is clear before taking into consideration his previous convictions which, although a long time ago, demonstrate worrying similar behaviour.’
Lewis will be subject to the hospital order to receive treatment until a further ruling by either a mental health tribunal or the Secretary of State.
Following sentencing, Lewis said: ‘I would just like to apologise to the victims because they said they worried about me. I don’t want people to worry about me.
‘I want to say to the police that I don’t have any grudges towards you either.’
Lewis was jailed for a year in 2003 for a campaign of harassment against a village vicar.
He and two others made the vicar’s life a misery – driving ‘a wedge of fear’ into his and his family’s life by howling like dogs and plaguing them with phone calls.
Lewis and one of his friends even drank each other’s blood, the court heard.
The trio waited until the dead of night before running round the churchyard ringing bells and launching fireworks at the vicar’s home.
They also sent taxis from a cab firm called Better The Devil You Know to the Rev Chris Rowberry’s vicarage and placed pornographic pictures on the noticeboard at his church – the tenth oldest in England.
While Mr Rowberry was chatting to parishioners outside St Mary the Virgin, in Eling, near Southampton, Hampshire, the three would drive past, howl and shout abuse.
Lewis was found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment following a trial.
It was the first time in this country anyone has been accused of committing the crime against a Christian.
Speaking after sentencing, New Forest District Commander, Chief Inspector Scott Johnson, said: ‘The sentence in this case, handed down today, reflects many months of complex, investigative work by Neighbourhood Policing Teams and investigation teams in Hampshire & Isle of Wight Police.
‘This crime series had a particular impact on the victims from the farming community and churchgoers, who were extremely distressed by the crimes under investigation.
‘I hope this sentence goes some way to providing some closure for those victims and provides the best opportunity for rehabilitation for the offender and to keep our communities and animals safe moving forward.’
