By James Simons-
A man has admitted murdering a mother and three children whose bodies were found at a house in Derbyshire.
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 (December 21). 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.
Louis Mably KC, prosecuting, opening the case, told the court Bendall’s attacks unfolded in Harris’s family home. He said: “On the night of Saturday September 17, 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.
Louis Mably KC, prosecuting, told the court it appeared each of the four victims had been attacked in different rooms as Bendall walked around the house looking for them.
“These were brutal, vicious and cruel attacks on a defenceless woman and three young children, he said.
“The defendant attacked them using a claw hammer which he used to hit them over the head and on the upper body.
“It was perfectly clear none of the victims stood a chance.”