Damien Bendall has been given a whole life order at Derby Crown Court for murdering his pregnant partner and three children, aged between 11 and 13, at Killamarsh in Derbyshire, in September 2021. Bendall, 32, who had previously admitted manslaughter, pleaded guilty to murdering his 35-year-old partner Terri Harris, her 11-year-old daughter Lacey Bennett, her son John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, also 11, at the home he shared with Ms Harris.
He also admitted raping Lacey at the house in Killamarsh, near Sheffield, in 2021, during what prosecutor Louis Mably KC told the court were “brutal, vicious and cruel attacks on a defenceless woman” and young children. The Crown’s KC detailed the “truly hideous and dreadful” aspects of the crime, including the fact Ms Harris was murdered while carrying Bendall’s unborn child – a fact revealed by a post-mortem paternity test.
Mr Mably KC, opening the case, said Lacey was likely to have been raped at least twice by Bendall. Connie had only been due to stay over for one night, but successfully got permission from her mother, fatefully extending her stay by another night – coinciding with Bendall’s attacks, the court heard.
What also emerged was that having brutally killed Ms Harris and the children, Bendall “took John’s Xbox (games console), ordered a taxi, went to Sheffield”, where he then exchanged the console “for drugs”, Mr Malby said.
Bendall would later tell police he had consumed “three to four bags of cocaine and then blacked out”. “This gives an indication of the sheer callous depravity of the defendant’s conduct that night,” said Mr Mably. Bendall entered the guilty pleas at Derby Crown Court on Wednesday.
Damien Bendall has been given a whole life order at Derby Crown Court for murdering his pregnant partner and three children, aged between 11 and 13, at Killamarsh in Derbyshire, in September 2021. Bendall, 32, who had previously admitted manslaughter, pleaded guilty to murdering his 35-year-old partner Terri Harris, her 11-year-old daughter Lacey Bennett, her son John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, also 11, at the home he shared with Ms Harris.
He also admitted raping Lacey at the house in Killamarsh, near Sheffield, in 2021, during what prosecutor Louis Mably KC told the court were “brutal, vicious and cruel attacks on a defenceless woman” and young children. The Crown’s KC detailed the “truly hideous and dreadful” aspects of the crime, including the fact Ms Harris was murdered while carrying Bendall’s unborn child – a fact revealed by a post-mortem paternity test.
Mr Mably KC, opening the case, said Lacey was likely to have been raped at least twice by Bendall. Connie had only been due to stay over for one night, but successfully got permission from her mother, fatefully extending her stay by another night – coinciding with Bendall’s attacks, the court heard.
What also emerged was that having brutally killed Ms Harris and the children, Bendall “took John’s Xbox (games console), ordered a taxi, went to Sheffield”, where he then exchanged the console “for drugs”, Mr Malby said.
Bendall would later tell police he had consumed “three to four bags of cocaine and then blacked out”. “This gives an indication of the sheer callous depravity of the defendant’s conduct that night,” said Mr Mably. Bendall entered the guilty pleas at Derby Crown Court on Wednesday.
