Killamarsh murders: Union fears repeat of Damien Bendall case

The probation officers' union has warned that the case of a violent criminal who murdered his partner and three children could be repeated.

Damien Bendall attacked Terri Harris, 35, her two children 13-year-old John Paul Bennett and Lacey Bennett, 11, together with a friend Connie Gent, 11, in September 2021.

He also raped Lacey as she lay dying in the family home on Chandos Crescent, in Killamarsh, near Sheffield.

Following an inquest into the deaths, a coroner concluded "very stark" failures by the Probation Service had contributed to the murders.

The two-week hearing at Chesterfield Coroner's Court was told how Bendall, who had a history of violence, was managed by overworked, stressed and inexperienced probation officers, as the service faced "significant" challenges.

Ian Lawrence, the general secretary of the probation officers' union NAPO, said: "We will see something like this again I'm afraid, and that's despite all the efforts that are being made to learn the lessons that will come out of this inquest and others.

"None of our members go to work to see people hurt or murdered. The workloads are too high, I've got trainees telling me that they are at 200% of their workload and that's appalling."

Bendall, 33, was given a suspended sentence for arson shortly before the murders but probation officers classed him as low risk, in spite of his violent background.

He was told to live at the home he shared with Terri Harris. A curfew was imposed to ensure he stayed there overnight.

He went on to attack all four of his victims with a claw hammer, later telling police: "I've murdered four people."

Sheffield Hallam University Criminology lecturer Dr Jake Phillips said the probation service at the time was understaffed.

He said: "In 2021 when this happened the service was really struggling with high staff turnover, high levels of sickness, high workloads. The probation service is now more stable, but not much better."

"This case has shone a spotlight on some of the problems and it's brought them to the attention of the public and it's brought it to the attention of politicians who have then had to do something about it."

The Chesterfield Coroner Peter Nieto acknowledged that the probation service had a lack of ecperienced staff at the time of Damien Bendall's case, but he added:

"This doesn't explain the totality of the acts or omissions or failures of the probation service's overview and supervision of Damien Bendall and the decisions made."

David Sandiford, lawyer for the probation service , said: "We extend our deepest sympathies to the relatives of Terri Harris, Lacey Bennett, John Paul Bennett and Connie Gent, and to all those who mourn them.

"We recognise that the changes made with a view to ensuring that this doesn't happen again can never undo the terrible loss or assuage the grief of those whose lives will never be the same again."

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