The people of the New Forest are accustomed to curious goings-on. The woods and heaths of the national park in southern England 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.
But residents are aghast at the case of a local man who hit the headlines after admitting dumping the carcasses of animals, including black lambs, near churches in and around the forest, apparently targeting Christian worshippers.
“It’s a terrible thing to do,” said Myra Noyce, one of the livestock owners Benjamin Lewis stole lambs from. “It’s upset us all, made us feel very uncomfortable. This is a lovely part of the world and to think of someone going around doing something like that is horrible. What was he thinking of?”
A year ago, livestock began to go missing, and Hampshire and Isle of Wight police received reports of carcasses of sheep and deer being left in and around New Forest churches.
The force took it seriously, launching extra patrols in the villages and towns targeted and in May arrested Lewis, who lives in the town of Totton on the eastern edge of the forest.
On 15 December at Southampton crown court Lewis admitted five counts of religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress and two charges of theft of lambs. The court heard Lewis was motivated by “hostility” to Christians and he was remanded in custody before his sentencing next year.
The detail of his case will emerge then but Lewis is known to have an interest in the supernatural, particularly vampires and horror stories.
“It’s pretty awful – there are some silly people around,” said Sarah Harrison, a New Forest farmer Lewis stole black lambs from. One of her lambs ended up outside St Peter’s church in the village of Bramshaw, another draped over a finger post. “I suppose it’s to do with his beliefs but it’s scared some people.”
An official at one of the churches, who asked not to be named, said the appearance of carcasses had been unnerving. “It wasn’t that people thought supernatural things were going on,” they said. “It was just the idea that someone was creeping around who had some clearly odd thoughts going on in their head.”
While the details of Lewis’s case are unusual, animal welfare experts flag an increase in animal cruelty cases.
A “kindness index” report released by the animal welfare charity RSPCA in the summer said the number of people who had witnessed animal cruelty in the previous 12 months was at an all-time high. It said some had witnessed cruelty in real life but most was via social media.
The charity believes social media has become a facilitator of cruelty with individuals and gangs using it to arrange abuse and share images and footage.
One example was the case of two New Forest brothers, Kristen and Todd Cooper, who were jailed earlier this year for offences including animal cruelty. They harmed deer and hares, recording the abuse on a phone.
There have been notable instances of animals being butchered in Hampshire to get a message across.
Last year the remains of 50 hares and birds of prey were dumped outside a village shop in Broughton. Residents believed it may have been a warning from a gang organising hare coursing – in which dogs are set upon the mammals – after it was challenged by a farmer. Some hare coursing is beamed live around the world and people bet on it.
The wildlife presenter and campaigner Chris Packham has also been a target, finding dead crows hung next to the gate of his Hampshire home after he campaigned for a ban on birds such as jackdaws, jays and magpies being freely shot.
Such cases seem all the more egregious because, for the most part, people and animals rub along in the New Forest with ponies, donkeys and pigs roaming as they have done for centuries.
Another New Forest village that has been targeted by someone leaving animal remains is Burley in the west of the forest. In May last year, a deer’s head and upside down cross were found at a memorial stone – an episode not connected to Lewis.
Legend has it that Burley Beacon was a dragons’ lair and in the 1950s the village was the home of the “white witch” Sybil Leek, who wrote books on witchcraft and was famed for strolling around with her pet jackdaw.
Leek emphasised that her witchcraft was “quiet, natural and easy”, explaining: “It’s listening instead of talking. It’s waiting for someone to say something to you. It’s quiet, natural and easy.”
Today, the village has a string of shops selling books on witchcraft, crystals and offering bowls – as well as Sybil Leek tea towels and keyrings.
Helen Sanderson, who works at the A Coven of Witches store, said people seemed to get confused between the gentle beliefs people such as Leek followed and the violent “Hollywood” version of the occult.
Katrina Beaumont, who runs the Cobwebs and Crystals shop and says she is a white witch, occasionally gets “odd” people coming in asking for voodoo dolls. “But for most people it’s about healing, love of nature, peace. It’s certainly not about sacrificing animals outside churches.”
Elisa Allen, of the animal rights organisation Peta, said the case ought to prompt people to be kinder to animals.
She said: “The Dalai Lama said that the greatest religion of all is kindness, and this disrespectful act against churchgoers and the animals whose bodies Lewis used showed none. Lewis’s behaviour should make us all reflect on the everyday lack of kindness and the disrespect people show to animals who are valued more dead than alive.”
