Topic Lifecycle: Dormant
This topic is currently dormant in the news cycle. It was last covered on Monday 19 October 2026 and has not appeared in recent broadcasts.
Coverage trend (last 30 days)
How much coverage this topic got from each channel over the past month.
On screen
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Recent stories
The latest story timelines linked to this topic, newest activity first.
What was reported
A plain summary of this topic, built from the channels that covered it.
In coverage aired on 19 October 2026, the story concerned Kenyan pastor Paul Mackenzie and the deaths of followers in Shakahola forest. The channels reported that he was accused of leading a commune where people were said to have starved to death in order to meet Jesus, and that most of the victims were children. Sky News reported that Mackenzie had been found guilty of murdering 191 people, 190 of them children. BBC ONE West reported that the court in Mombasa was still awaiting a verdict at the time of its bulletin, with the judge on a break while reading a 500-page ruling. BBC ONE West reported that around 191 murders were alleged, including 190 children, and that 429 bodies had been found in shallow graves. Both channels reported that Mackenzie had denied forcing anyone to die. BBC ONE West reported that his defense said he did not make people starve, and that the judge described the commune as hyper-authoritarian, with funerals referred to as weddings. BBC ONE West also reported court details that children were said to have been forced to starve first, followed by women and men, and that some were tied to trees. Sky News reported that Mackenzie founded Good News International Ministries in 2003, that it grew over the following 16 years and drew thousands of followers, and that he faced other cases including terrorism, radicalisation and denying education to children.
Key Claims by Channel
| Claim |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Widely reported · 3 or more of 4 channels | ||||
| A judge reported that 429 bodies had been found. | Reported by BBC One | |||
| Mackenzie was found guilty of murdering 191 people, 190 of them children. | ||||
| Mackenzie denied forcing anyone to die, and his defense said he did not make people starve. | Reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Reported by Sky News | |
| Reported by a few · 2 channels | ||||
| The court was told that some victims were bound to trees using wires and ropes. | Reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by Sky News | |
| Kenyan pastor Paul Mackenzie was accused of leading a commune in Shakahola forest where followers reportedly starved to death in order to meet Jesus. | Not reported by BBC News | Reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Reported by Sky News |
| A verdict was still awaited, with the Mombasa courtroom on a break while the judge read from a 500-page ruling. | Reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by Sky News | |
| Mackenzie's teachings reportedly described education and modern medicine as satanic or against doctrine. | Not reported by BBC News | Reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Reported by Sky News |
| The judge described the commune as hyper-authoritarian and said funerals were referred to as weddings, with the dead described as married to Jesus. | Reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by Sky News | |
| Only on one channel | ||||
| Mackenzie is accused of murdering 191 people, including 190 children. | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by Sky News | |
| Most of the bodies found in the forest were children. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Reported by Sky News |
| Mackenzie founded Good News International Ministries in 2003; it grew over 16 years, drew thousands of followers and ran Times TV. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | |
| Mackenzie faced other legal cases, including terrorism, radicalisation and denying children education. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Reported by Sky News |
| Sermons reportedly described digital identity cards as the mark of the devil. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Reported by Sky News |
| Around 110 bodies were unidentified, and the court said it was prioritizing protection of life over identifying names. | Not reported by BBC News | Reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by Sky News |
| Before leading the sect, Mackenzie worked as a taxi driver. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Sky News | |
| A survivor said she lost eight members of her family. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Sky News | |
| Mackenzie and his followers are due to be sentenced in Mombasa next month. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by Sky News | |
| Mackenzie's followers were instructed that children should die first, followed by women and then men. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by Sky News | |
This is a cross-channel consensus summary, not an objective account. Consensus can be uniformly wrong, or omit what only one channel covered.
Timeline
Where this topic appeared. Cells show coverage time and are darker when there was more coverage.