this morning first of all we had a change of plea from damien bendall. he originally pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not murder. the four victims were terry harris, whose daughter lacey bennett, his sonjohn and lacey s friend who was on a sleepover on the night that damien bendall committed these murders. he changed his plea to murders. he changed his plea to murderfirst thing this murders. he changed his plea to murder first thing this morning murders. he changed his plea to murderfirst thing this morning of the rest of the day we had the prosecution opening the case and then sentencing from mrjustice sweeney which he gave damien bendall five whole life sentences. the four murders plus the rate of lucy bennett as well. this was a horrendous case. i can t go into too much of the detail. he killed them all with a hammer. it was an awful morning and afternoon for the families who were in court. they had not heard a lot of the details before stop they had already gone through hell and
memorable of all of those is angela smith who was lacey and john s grandmother and she said that when they were around she used to tell them that they were no monsters. how wrong i was, she said, in that victim statement. damien bendall sat throughout proceedings today with his head down and there was no reaction from him. his barrister said he was expecting and wanted a whole life sentence. he was a heavy drug user and some of those awful details from the night he committed those murders involved in using drugs, even selling off his partner s possessions the fearless habit and after he killed them he tookjohn s xbox in sheffield, so that the drugs, came back and used those drugs before calling the police who turned up at the house the next morning and made the gruesome discovery. so five whole life sentences for damien bendall
intention and that was to take the lives of those within the premises. they had lives of those within the premises. they had all come to trust damien bendall they had all come to trust damien bendall and he shattered the trust. these bendall and he shattered the trust. these horrendous attacks on on the weapon these horrendous attacks on on the weapon used would have left the persons weapon used would have left the persons inside very quickly incapacitated. it s also difficult to comprehend the nature of the further to comprehend the nature of the further attack on lacey which has been further attack on lacey which has been described in the courtroom this afternoon been described in the courtroom this afternoon. the families have had to endure afternoon. the families have had to endure more than 15 months of agony and heartache brett lee today they have been and heartache brett lee today they have been given reassurance he will not cause have been given reassurance he
a man has appeared in court charged with the murders of a woman and three children in a house in killamarsh in derbyshire on sunday. our correspondent danny savage is in derby. the man in question is damien bendall who is 31 and he appeared on video link for the hearing at derby magistrates court behind me this afternoon. he spoke to confirm his name and address and date of birth and he has been held at the moment at police headquarters in derbyshire. he is accused of murdering 35 year old terri harris, her daughter lacey bennett who was 11 and john bennett who was 13 and another girl, conniejanet, who was 11 and she was a friend of lacey and was staying at the house that night for a sleepover. the bodies were found on sunday morning when damien bendall was first arrested in police announced that he was charged this