Damien Bendall: Drug addict gets life in prison after he brutally killed pregnant girlfriend and 3 children
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KILLAMARSH, ENGLAND: A drug addict who murdered his pregnant partner, her two children, and their school friend who was sleeping over, has been sentenced to life in prison. Damien Bendall killed his four victims with a claw hammer at the home of his girlfriend Terri Harris in Killamarsh, Derbyshire in September 2021. The attack was reportedly motiveless and drug-led.
Bendall pleaded guilty to raping and killing Lacey Bennett, 11, then murdering her brother John Paul Bennett, 13, their mother, and his girlfriend Terri Harris, 35, and Connie Gent, 11, at Derby Crown Court on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, where he was sentenced to the rare punishment by Justice Sweeney with no hesitation. Bendall has been jailed for life, meaning he will never be released from prison, except in exceptional compassionate circumstances. "As the prosecution has said, you carried out vicious, brutal, and cruel attacks on a defenseless woman and three young children, during which you went around the house attacking them,” Justice Sweeney said, according to the BBC.
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Harris and the children were reportedly killed on the evening of September 18 and were found dead at a house in Chandos Crescent, Killamarsh, a day later on September 19. "The defendant attacked them using a claw hammer which he used to hit them over the head and on the upper body," prosecution barrister Louis Mably KC said at the hearing, adding, "It was perfectly clear none of the victims stood a chance." The murder was reported by Bendall's mother to whom he confessed the following morning, as per The Telegraph.
Mably told the court Bendall and Harris met on a dating app and had previously been in a relationship that began in April 2020. However, the relationship soon became abusive and controlling, distancing Harris from her family. In a police bodycam footage, Bendall could be heard saying, "I've murdered four people", and "I'm not going back to prison".
The cops found John first, lying naked on the floor of the bathroom as he was about to take a shower before Bendall attacked him at around 9:42 pm. He then found Harris and her daughter in the main bedroom. Terri was lying on the floor, whereas Lacey was on the bed. According to the forensic evidence, Bendall attacked and raped Lacey downstairs before taking her upstairs, where she was raped again.
As per BBC, he used some kind of ligature around her neck, which led to her death along with head injuries. Connie, who was staying at the residence for a sleepover, was found dead in another bedroom. After committing the crimes, Bendall left at around 5 am with murdered John's Xbox for Sheffield and exchanged it for drugs.
Bendall was arrested and taken to the hospital because of a few minor injuries that required stitches. According to the outlet, during the interrogation, Bendall said, "I used a hammer. I did not realize what I did until I walked into my room and saw my missus and my daughter."
The convict showed no remorse when he said, "Bet you don't usually get four murders in Killamarsh, do you? Well I mean five 'cause my missus was having a baby."
During the sentencing hearing, Mably told Justice Sweeney that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) would be seeking a whole life term for Bendall, given the gravity of the offenses. "In view of all this, the prosecution’s submission as to sentence is that the seriousness of the offending is so exceptionally high, it falls into the category of case that calls for the imposition of a whole life order, rather than a minimum term," he said. “Even with the suggestion that he was controlling and coercive towards Terri Harris, his actions that night remain largely inexplicable and motiveless,” the convict's lawyer Vanessa Marshall KC said while claiming that her client had no memory of the attack.
Jason Bennett, the father of John and Lacey, said, "The murder of my children has destroyed and taken my life away." Charles Gent, the father of Connie, stated, "The murder of my daughter, Connie, has completely torn my life apart. I feel like I have become a lost soul trying to navigate my way through life without her here."
Angela Smith, Harris’s mother, recalled how her grandchildren Lacey and John would occasionally tell her that they were scared of monsters when they were younger. "I would tell them there was no such thing as monsters," she said, adding, "How wrong I was."