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“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. “It was perfectly clear none of the victims stood a chance. “The defendant attacked them using a claw hammer which he used to hit them over the head and on the upper body. “These were brutal, vicious and cruel attacks on a defenceless woman and three young children. Mr Mably told the court: “The circumstances of these offences are truly hideous and dreadful. Most had defensive injuries, indicating they had tried to fight off Bendall after he launched his attack some time after 9.42pm the previous evening. Ms Harris and the children were found dead at her home in Chandos Crescent, Killamarsh, north-east Derbyshire, on September 19 last year. “This gives an indication of the sheer callous depravity of the defendant’s conduct that night,” said Mr Mably.īendall, who had a cannabis habit, later told police he had consumed “three to four bags of cocaine and then blacked out”. He told the cab driver he had been “just chilling with the family”. Mr Mably, opening the case earlier, said Lacey was likely to have been raped at least twice by Bendall.Įarlier that day, “happy-go-lucky” Lacey, Connie and John had filmed themselves selling sweets to passers-by at a cancer charity stall they had set up, the court heard.Ĭonnie had only been due to stay over for one night, but got permission from her mother, fatefully extending her stay by another night – coinciding with Bendall’s attacks, the court heard.Īudio of a police officer searching the houseĪfter the killings, Bendall “took John’s Xbox, ordered a taxi, went to Sheffield” and exchanged the games console for drugs, Mr Mably said. “I would tell him there’s no such thing as monsters. The judge told Bendall he had displayed “controlling” behaviour towards Ms Harris before the attacks, and concerned friends described him as a “gangster wannabe” who bragged about spending time in prison.Īs the judge told him he would never be free again, some in the public gallery cried “yes”.Įarlier, in a victim impact statement read to court, Ms Harris’s mother Angela Smith – who branded Bendall “evil” – said: “John (Bennett) would tell me when he was younger, he was scared of monsters. “I have no doubt you are a dangerous offender,” he told Bendall who sat looking at the floor while the victims’ families stared at him. Having already imposed whole-life sentences for each of the murders, Mr Justice Sweeney said the “horrendous circumstances” of the rape justified the same sentence. “Then, as her young life was ebbing away, you raped her in the grossest breach of trust,” said the judge. He added that after attacking Lacey in the living room, he carried her “unconscious but still alive” to the main bedroom, where Ms Harris lay dead on the floor, before placing the youngster on the bed and positioning a mirror “so you could see all of what you were going to do”. “You went around the house attacking them: Terri in the main bedroom, John in the bathroom, Connie in another bedroom, and Lacey, hitting them with a claw hammer and with such ferocity, their skulls were literally smashed in.” “As the prosecution have said, you carried out brutal, vicious and cruel attacks on a defenceless woman and three young children. During sentencing at Derby Crown Court on Wednesday, Mr Justice Sweeney 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.
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