Triple child killer deemed 'low risk' before murdering four people and raping dying girl

An inquest into four deaths opened today to determine why a triple child killer was deemed “low risk” despite a history of serious and violent offences.

The truly horrifying case saw a pregnant mum Terri Harris, 35, her daughter Lacey Bennett, 11, her son John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, 11, brutally murdered by Damien Bendall.

As well as pleading guilty to murdering the four of them he was also raped Lacey while she lay dying - and was given a whole life jail term in December 2022.

But huge questions have been asked about the case - with an inquest which opened today - investigating why Bendall was deemed not to be at risk of causing anyone serious harm despite being described by one probation officer as "cold and calculated and quite psychopathic".

Derby Crown Court was told how in a police interview after his arrest, Bendall said: "Bet you don’t usually get four murders in Killamarsh do you – well, five (murders), because my missus was having a baby."

Bendall, then 31, was arrested at the scene and taken to hospital, having been injured prior to the arrival of Derbyshire police. 

He was charged with murder on September 22 last year.

Prosecutor Louis Mably KC told the court how Bendall's attacks unfolded at the Harris' family home in Killamarsh, near Sheffield, in September last year. 

Mr Malby said: "The defendant brutally and viciously murdered his then partner, Terri Harris, who is aged 35 - and was in the early stages of pregnancy.

"He also murdered Terri's two children, by a previous partner, her 13-year-old son 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."

Mr Mably said the attacks "were of such ferocity" that the victims "skulls were smashed in".

He told the court: "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."

He added: "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."

The court was told that earlier in the day the children spent the afternoon outside the house, selling sweets in order to fundraise for Cancer Research. 

Since the verdict a review into how a quadruple murderer was dealt with by probation officers has found failings "at every stage".

The failings meant Damien Bendall was deemed suitable to live with his pregnant partner Terri Harris and her two children.

He could, instead, have been sent to prison when he was sentenced for arson just months before the murders.

HM Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said: "The Probation Service's assessment and management of Bendall at every stage, from initial court report to his supervision in the community, was of an unacceptable standard and fell far below what was required.

Now the inquest will also examine how the serious misjudgement of Bendall by the probation service.

The inquest into the four deaths continues.