A man fascinated with vampires and graveyards who apparently believed he would live for ever if he drank blood has been detained in hospital after being caught dumping animal corpses outside churches in a British forest.<\/p>\n
Benjamin Lewis, 48, left the bodies of sheep and deer on the doorsteps of churches in the New Forest in Hampshire<\/a>, frightening parishioners and upsetting farmers whose livestock he stole and slaughtered.<\/p>\n As part of the operation to trap Lewis, police officers carried out surveillance on ecclesiastical sites on significant dates in the satanic calendar.<\/p>\n Lewis was finally arrested after traces of his DNA were found on a lamb\u2019s remains. He admitted causing religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress and the theft of lambs.<\/p>\n During an earlier court appearance, Lewis, of Totton, Southampton, answered \u201cCount Dracula\u201d when asked to identify himself.<\/p>\n Judge William Mousley KC said he would be detained for treatment unless and until either a mental health tribunal or the justice secretary considered it safe for him to be released.<\/p>\n After his sentence, Lewis, who appeared via video link from hospital, apologised to his victims and said he bore no grudge towards the police who had caught him.<\/p>\n St Theresa\u2019s church in Totton, one of the churches Benjamin Lewis targeted with the remains of animals. Photograph: Peter Flude\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Speaking outside court, PC Jessica Surman of Hampshire police said it was the most unusual case she had worked on. \u201cIt\u2019s one where you think you have reached the end of the bizarreness and then something else happens and throws a curveball into the mix.\u201d<\/p>\n Lewis believed drinking blood would prolong his life, Surman said. \u201cAnd if he drinks it enough he won\u2019t go to hell, he won\u2019t die and he will become a vampire.\u201d<\/p>\n Police began investigating when dead animals \u2013 lambs stolen from farmers and deer killed on roads \u2013 started being found at churches.<\/p>\n Surman said police began to see a pattern in his offending. \u201cWe were almost able to predict when he was going to be striking.\u201d They consulted satanic calendars, posting officers at churches on significant days.<\/p>\n People connected to the churches Lewis focused on were very concerned. \u201cWe have had people who were so upset and frightened by it, they couldn\u2019t go to church,\u201d Surman said. One woman was too scared to visit the church where her son was buried.<\/p>\n Parsonage Farm, which had three sheep stolen. Photograph: Peter Flude\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Laura Deuxberry, prosecuting, told Southampton crown court that lambs and deer were left by Lewis outside and inside churches, sometimes with an inverted cross nearby. A tarot card was also left near one.<\/p>\n A lamb was put on a cross on top of a church and a second close to a statue of Jesus\u2019s mother, Mary. Another lamb was left in a church pulpit on a cross taken from the altar. On one occasion children saw what had happened and were very distressed.<\/p>\n One vicar said it made him angry \u2013 as if the \u201copposition\u201d had left a signature. Another said: \u201cIt\u2019s an insidious way to make a point.\u201d<\/p>\n A church warden said she was \u201con edge\u201d when she went to one of the churches Lewis targeted. She said he was trying to cause fear and unrest. A churchgoer said she felt someone was sending a \u201csadistic message\u201d.<\/p>\n Deuxberry said one of the incidents centred on a community mental health facility close to Lewis\u2019s home. A deer\u2019s head and an inverted cross were left on the gates. The person who found the head said she was shocked and afterwards feared the culprit was watching her.<\/p>\n When police searched Lewis\u2019s home they found sketches of vampires, notes about rituals and references to sucking blood.<\/p>\n Deuxberry said the offences he had been charged with took place between February and August last year but there had been concerns over him for a number of years.<\/p>\n The woods and heaths of the New Forest national park are the setting for all manner of tales of witches, pixies, cursed souls and rituals, and even today are a magnet for those fascinated by the otherworldly.<\/p>\n The village of Burley was the home of the \u201cwhite witch\u201d Sybil Leek, who wrote books on witchcraft and was famed for strolling around with her pet jackdaw.<\/p>\n