A man who admitted murdering a mother and three children has been given a whole life prison sentence meaning he will never be released.
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.
Bendall entered the guilty pleas at Derby Crown Court on Wednesday.
He also admitted raping Lacey during what prosecuting KC Louis Mably KC told the court were “brutal, vicious and cruel attacks on a defenceless woman” and young children.
Ms Harris and the children were found dead at a house in Chandos Crescent, Killamarsh, in north-east Derbyshire, near Sheffield, on September 19 last year.
Sentencing Bendall for four counts of murder and one of rape, High Court judge Mr Justice Sweeney said family impact statements attested in moving terms to each victim who had been “so horrifically taken away” and their families’ “utter devastation.”
The judge told him: “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.
“You are now aged 32 and have a significant background of violent offending, including robbery.
“As the prosecution have said, you carried out brutal, vicious and cruel attacks on a defenceless woman and three young children.”
The ferocity of the murders was such that the skulls of the victims were “literally smashed in,” the judge added.
Mr Mably, recounting Bendall’s likely movements through the family home, 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.”
In police interview after his arrest, 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.”
He then added: “Bet you don’t usually get four murders in Killamarsh do you – well, five (murders), because my missus was having a baby.”
