Man detained after animal carcasses placed at churches

A man who killed animals and left their remains at churches in a campaign of religiously aggravated harassment has been detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act. Benjamin Lewis, 48, of Totton, Southampton, was sentenced at Southampton Crown Court on August 3, 2026, after previously pleading guilty to five counts of religiously aggravated intentional harassment and two counts of theft.

The offenses occurred between February and August 2025 across the New Forest area of Hampshire. Lewis targeted four churches and a mental health facility where he had previously received treatment. He stole lambs from local farms, slaughtered them by slitting their throats, and displayed their bodies alongside deer carcasses, often accompanied by inverted crosses or tarot cards.

At St. Theresa's Church in Totton, a deer's head was found with an inverted cross, and later a lamb was placed on a light fixture below a statue of Mary. At Christ Church in Emery Down, a deer's head was placed in the pulpit on top of a cross removed from the altar, causing blood stains that forced the church to dispose of the cross. At St. Peter's Church in Bramshaw, a dead lamb was fastened to a flagpole and a...