Sleepover killer Damien Bendall was able to murder his pregnant girlfriend and her children after FIFTY-ONE separate failures by the Probation Service, coroner concludes

The family of a woman murdered alongside three children by her partner have slammed the Probation Service after a coroner ruled serious failings contributed to their deaths.

Pregnant Terri Harris, 35, was beaten to death with a hammer by drug addict Damien Bendall, who also bludgeoned her son John Bennett, 13, her daughter Lacey Bennett, 11, and Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, also 11, who was at the house for a sleepover.

The former cage fighter, who was jailed for life, raped Lacey as she lay dying and after the killing spree took John’s games console to a dealer to exchange for drugs.

It later emerged that cocaine addict Bendall, who had a history of serious and violent offences dating back to 2004, had been incorrectly categorised by a probation officer as medium risk, which meant he was handed a suspended sentence for arson just months before his rampage.

Today a coroner ruled that a series of individual and systemic failings by the Probation Service had contributed the killings, which happened as the children were preparing for bed at Miss Harris’ home in Killamarsh, Derbyshire in September 2021.

Damien Bendall, 33, is serving a whole-life order for the murders of his partner Terri Harris, 35, her daughter Lacey Bennett, 11, her son John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, 11, after he attacked them with a claw hammer at their home 

Lacey Bennett with her brother John Paul Bennett and their mother Terri Harris 

Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, also 11, was also murdered by Bendall at the house

Afterwards, Miss Harris’ parents Angela Smith and Lawrence Harris released a statement through their solicitor in which they said: ‘The probation service failed to protect and keep our family safe – they are now gone, this must never happen again.’

READ MORE: Drugs worker did not breath-test Damien Bendall before he murdered his pregnant partner

They said Her Majesty’s Inspector of Probation ‘have been telling the probation service for many years that they were failing women and children at risk from violent men with a history of domestic abuse’.

In a scathing indictment of the state the service, Peter Nieto, the senior coroner for Derby and Derbyshire said the victims had been failed by overworked, stressed and inexperienced probation officers.

He said missed opportunities, errors of judgment and a ‘lack of professional curiosity’ by staff and managers meant Bendall was free to commit murder.

He identified four ‘stark omissions’ including a failure to record a report of serious domestic violence by a former partner and a failure to record and and properly assess Bendall’s risk to children after police received a report he had been found in the bed of a girl in care.

Lacey Bennett with her brother John Paul Bennett and their mother Terri Harris 

Chandos Crescent in Killamarsh, Derbyshire, where the bodies of John Paul Bennett, 13, Lacey Bennett, 11, their mother Terri Harris, 35, and Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, 11, were discovered 

The coroner also singled out a pre sentence report prepared by trainee probation officer after he was convicted of arson just months before the killing. 

It said he was suitable to receive a curfew to live at Miss Harris’ house. 

The coroner said the report was ‘inadequate and misleading’ and incorrectly suggested checks had been carried out which hadn’t.

As a result, he was sentenced to an ‘entirely inappropriate curfew condition to reside with Ms Harris and her children’.

The coroner also criticised an Electronic Monitoring System officer – employed by Capita – who failed to report comments he made when she was fitting his tag.

Bendall told her that he would kill his girlfriend and her children if their relationship ‘went bad’ but she did not tell bosses which meant it was not fed back to the Probation Service, even though it ‘should very clearly have been’ Mr Nieto said.

Flowers near to the scene of the murders in Chandos Crescent, Killamarsh 

John Paul, 13, and Lacey, 11, pictured with their father Jason Bennett 

READ MORE: Quadruple killer Damien Bendall said he would murder his pregnant girlfriend and her children if their relationship ‘went bad’, three months before sleepover killings, inquest hears

The inquest heard that Bendall’s case was managed by two trainee probation officers with just months of experience between them and who ‘did not have the experience, qualifications or training to manage the case’ while managers failed to properly supervise.

Recording his conclusion for all four inquests after hearing two weeks of evidence, Mr Nieto said they were unlawfully killed but their deaths were ‘contributed to by acts or omissions by the designated state agency for offending management in the course of Damien Bendall’s offender supervision and management’.

The probation service accepted 51 separate failings at the inquests, held at Chesterfield Coroner’s Court, and accepted a catalogue of missed opportunities and lack of scrutiny concerning Bendall’s supervision going back several years.

A review found failings ‘at every stage’.

David Sandiford, for the Probation Service, said changes had been made.

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