A collection of “very stark” failures by the Probation Service contributed to the murders of a mom and three youngsters by Damien Bendall, a coroner has concluded.
Bendall, 33, is serving a entire life sentence for murdering his 35-year-old girlfriend Terri Harris, her youngsters, John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey Bennett, 11, and Lacey’s pal, 11-year-old Connie Gent, in September 2021.
They have been attacked with a claw hammer in Killamarsh, Derbyshire, and Bendall additionally admitted raping Lacey.
Inquests at Chesterfield Coroner’s Court concluded they have been unlawfully killed, and senior coroner Peter Nieto mentioned that whereas Bendall bore “primary responsibility” for the “brutal and savage” murders, there have been “several very stark acts or omissions” by each the Probation Service and people that “accumulatively” contributed to the deaths.
He added: “My conclusion is unlawful killing, 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 on the inquests, which examined how Bendall, who had a historical past of great and violent offences courting again to 2004, was classed as posing a low threat of great hurt to companions and youngsters.
Bendall’s historical past and allegations of home abuse towards a former accomplice and inappropriate contact with a younger woman in care have been missed attributable to a “failure to demonstrate sufficient professional curiosity”, Mr Nieto mentioned.
“That was an important piece of information to be prominently recorded in the probation report.
“If it had been, it seems to me inconceivable that Damien Bendall wouldn’t have been thought of to be excessive threat to youngsters.”
A damning report printed in January mentioned the Probation Service’s dealing with of him was of an “unacceptable standard” at each stage and “critical opportunities” to appropriate errors have been missed earlier than he murdered his victims.
He had been on probation serving a suspended jail sentence for arson.
Bendall gave Ms Harris’s tackle for his curfew order and was dwelling along with her and her youngsters regardless of earlier convictions for violent crime and allegations of home abuse made by a former accomplice.
The inquests heard from members of workers on the Probation Service based mostly in Swindon and Chesterfield, which each handled Bendall in relation to earlier offences, who mentioned they struggled with excessive workloads and stress.
The chief probation officer for England and Wales, Kim Thornden-Edwards, mentioned the service was going through “significant” challenges when it was coping with Bendall – however main adjustments proceed to be made to forestall an analogous “tragic” incident from taking place once more.
Mr Nieto mentioned safeguarding checks weren’t accomplished, with no effort made to talk to Ms Harris and her youngsters to evaluate whether or not a curfew at her property was appropriate, one thing the Probation Service admitted was “unacceptable”.
As a part of his “entirely inappropriate and dangerous” curfew, Bendall was made to put on an digital tag, through the becoming of which he mentioned: “If this relationship goes bad, I will murder my girlfriend and the children.”
But these feedback weren’t fed again to the Probation Service, despite the fact that they “should very clearly have been”, Mr Nieto mentioned.
Inadequate steerage and supervision by managers allowed different intervention alternatives to be missed, together with Bendall admitting he was utilizing hashish and robust alcohol and lacking not less than 5 conferences with a substance misuse employee, which the coroner mentioned ought to have prompted a evaluate of his threat degree.
While Mr Nieto acknowledged the affect of adjustments to the Probation Service within the months earlier than the murders and of COVID, he mentioned: “They don’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.”
Following the coroner’s conclusion, lawyer David Sandiford, who represented the Probation Service all through the inquests, mentioned: “We extend afresh our deepest sympathies to the relatives of Terri Harris, Lacey Bennett, John Paul Bennett and Connie Gent, and indeed to all those who mourn them.
“Damien Bendall is rightly serving a complete life order.
“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.”
Closing the inquest, Mr Nieto mentioned he would write a Prevention of Future Deaths report, and prolonged his condolences to the victims’ households and pals after a “difficult two weeks”.
Source: information.sky.com”