Damien Bendall admitted the four murders at Derby Crown Court on Wednesday.
21 December 2022
A man who carried out the “brutal, vicious and cruel” murders of his pregnant partner and three young children – raping one of them – has been been told he will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Damien 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.
Sentencing Bendall on Wednesday, Mr Justice Sweeney told the killer at Derby Crown Court: “On your behalf Bendall, it is accepted that the seriousness of your offences is so exceptionally high the court must make a whole-life order. I agree.”
