Damien Bendall: Ex-Swindon man admits murdering mum and three children

Damien Bendall (Image: Police)

Damien Bendall previously admitted manslaughter but has on Wednesday (December 21) pleaded guilty to murdering his 35-year-old partner Terri Harris, her 11-year-old daughter Lacey Bennett and son John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey’s 11-year-old friend Connie Gent.

It took place in September 2021 at the home he shared with Ms Harris in Killamarsh, Derbyshire.

The 32-year-old entered the guilty pleas at Derby Crown Court, and will be sentenced later on Wednesday.

Warning: The following quotes contain details which readers may find distressing.

Terri Harris (Image: PA)

He also admitted raping Lacey during what prosecuter Louis Mably KC told the court were “brutal, vicious and cruel attacks on a defenceless woman” and young children.

Mr Mably added: “On the night of Saturday September 18, 2021, stretching into the early hours of September 19, the defendant brutally and viciously murdered his then partner, Terri Harris, who is aged 35 – and was in the early stages of pregnancy.

Terri Harris, Lacey Bennett, and John Paul Bennett (Image: PA)

“He also murdered Terri’s two children, by a previous partner, her 13-year-old son John Paul and 11-year-old daughter Lacey, and he murdered Connie Gent, also aged 11.

“She was a friend of Lacey’s who just happened that evening to be staying at Lacey’s house for a sleepover.

"The circumstances of these offences are truly hideous and dreadful.

“These were brutal, vicious and cruel attacks on a defenceless woman and three young children.

“The defendant attacked them using a claw hammer which he used to hit them over the head and on the upper body.

“The attacks were of such ferocity, in essence their skulls were smashed in and in the case of one of the children, 11-year-old Lacey, parts of her brain matter were found on the living-room floor.

“It was perfectly clear none of the victims stood a chance.”

Connie Gent (Image: PA)

Mr Mably, recounting Bendall’s likely movements through the family home in Chandos Crescent, Killamarsh, said: “It does appear each (victim) was attacked in a different room, (and) appears he went around the house looking for them, attacking them each in turn, in order to kill them.

“One of the dreadful facts about this case is that during the attacks, the defendant raped 11-year-old Lacey, and this included raping her as she lay dying from the head wounds he had inflicted with the hammer.”

Ms Harris and the children were found dead at a house in Chandos Crescent, Killamarsh, near Sheffield, on September 19 last year.

In police interview after his arrest, Damien Bendall told officers at Ripley police station: “The whole house is covered in claret.

“I used the hammer.

“I didn’t realise what I did until I walked into my room and saw my missus and my daughter.

"Bet you don’t usually get four murders in Killamarsh do you – well, five (murders), because my missus was having a baby.”

Bendall will be sentenced later on Wednesday.

Lacey Bennett (Image: PA)