warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
this is the exact moment the small town of kilamarsh in the UK would witness its first murder. one sobrutal it would lead to one of the harshest punishments ever
handed down unde british law.
meet damian bendall ,a violent man with a chilling past and a rap sheet that stretched back over a decade.
by the time this body cam was recorded,he wasn’t just a familiar name to law enforcement.
he was a walking red flag,but nothing , absolutely nothing, could have prepared anyone for the horrors he was about to unleash.
on what would become his last day as a free man, bendall committed a crime so twisted, so deepley disturbing, that he cemented his name in infamy as one of the most loathed criminals in the UK.
what makes this case even more haunting isn’t just the sheer brutality of what he did,but the many warning signs that were ignored along the way.
how did a man with such a violent past slip through the cracks again and again. how did the system fail to protect the innocent? and who paid the ultimate price?
in this story,we’re pulling back the curtain on the monstrous life of damian bendall,the innocent lives he shattered and the chilling path that led to that tragic daywe’ve covered countless disturbing cases,but this one, it’s on another level . and trust me, once you hear the full story, you’ll understand why.
for this story , we need to take a tripp to the peaceful town of kilamarsh, a small close-knit community in darbisher,England.
the kind of place where people leave their doors unlocked, where kids ride bikes until the sun sets, and where the biggest news might be about a new shop opening or the local fotball team winning a match.
but on one quiet sunday morning,in september of 2021. that peaceful image shattered in a way no one could have ever imagined.
it was the 19th of september , a sunday like any other until 7:26 in the morning when emergency services received a chilling phone call.
on the line was a man named damian bendall .his voice wasn’t panicked.it wasn’t shaky.
in fact, it was eerily calm, as if he were reporting a broken window or a car crash.
now, kilamarsh isn’t a big place. within just 14 minutes of that call, police officers were already pulling up to the house.
and there he was,damien bendall himself,standing infront of the property.
he looked messy,dazed, dressed in a trench coat ,and had visible blood on his hands and chest. yet again ,he didn’t act like a man who had just committed an unspeakable crime.
he was calm, cooperative,disturbingly so.
as officers led him away from public view, giving him a strange courtesy of privacy despite the gravity of his crime . they prepared themselves to enter the house.
and what they found inside would haunt them forever. the scene was nothing short of a nightmare.
35 year old terry harris ,damian’s partner ,was found lifeless in the living room.
nearby in the bathroom was her 13 year old son, john paul bennett.
in one of the bedroom ,two more young lives were lost ,11 year old lacy bennett
and her best friend,connie Gent ,who had been staying over for a sleepover.
all four were brutally murdered.
the girls were so young , so full of life, just starting their journey in the world.and it was all taken away in one horrifiying night.
damian bendall was arrested, officers entered the house and were met with a scene straight of a nightmare.
blood wasn’t confined to one area .it was everywhere, smeared across walls, soaked into the floors,and heavy in the air.
it was instantly clear that whatever happened inside wasn’t fast or quite.
it was brutal and frenzy.
a claw hammer was found nearby, believed to be the main weapon used.
and in the kitchen ,a bloodied bread knife added to the horror.
this incident didn’t just shake the quiet little town of kilamarsh.it shattered it.
this was the kind of place where people left their doors unlocked,kids played freely in the street, and everyone kind of knew everyone.
violent crime, practically unheard of.in fact, before this , there hadn’t been a single murder recorded in the town’s history.
so when news broke that four lives had been taken in one night,it felt like the entire community had been hit by a freight train,no one could believe it.how could something this horrifying happened in their backyard? but as details unfolded, the heartbreak deepened.
this wan’t just a simple,tragic case. it was messy, twisted ,and far more distrubing that anyone was prepared for.
and what made it even harder to process,the household wasn’t a typical family setup.none of the children was actually related to bendall the man at the center of it all.his relationship with terry harris,the mother of two of the children, had only started a few months earlier.it was still new,still developing .
and connie Gent, one of victims, wasn’t even part of the family.she was just staying the night with her best friend lacy.a simple , innocent sleepover turned into something absolutely unimaginable.
this wasn’t just a random act of violence,it was premeditated,calculated,and as you will soon found out, rooted in a long list of red flags that were somehow ignored or brsuhed off.
and the worst part,what damian did went far beyond murder . as horrific that is already, he crossed lines that most of us can’t even comprehend.
it was later revealed that damian had taken advantage of 11 year old lacy while she was dying. and if that wasn’t horrifying enough ,he returned after she had passed.
it’s hard to even find the words to describe something that cruel. this wasn’t just a murder case it was one of the most disturbing and inhumane crimes Britain had seen in recent years.
so , who exactly was damian bendall? born in the year 1989,damian came from swindon.from early on,it seemed like he was set on a path of destruction, and no one around him.
not teachers,not neighbors , not even friends, could quite figure out why.
while most kids were busy figuring out school or hobbies, damian seemed obsessed with crafting this tough guy image. he wanted to be feared.he was determined to build a reputation as a hard man in the area.
but truthfully,most of it was just smoke and mirrors, a performance, a persona he wore like a mask.behind all the bravado ,there was nothing genuinely impressive,just insecurity , violence and a whole lot of dusturbing behavior.
from a young age damian had already found himself involved in petty crimes, shoplifting, theft and random acts of vandalism.
and once that door opened ,things escalated quickly. those who knew him growing up often said his number once goal wasn’t to succeed in life or even to survive. it was simply to be seen as dangerous.
he even tried his hand at cage fighting,which based on multiple reports didn’t go well for him. he failed more often then he succeeded.yet ,he still clung to this aggressive persona.
he had true blue tattoed across his knuckles,chelsey football club’s famous slogan.but ironically, despite being such a supposed super fan,he had never one once seen a chelse match live.it was all for show.
even more disturbing,he reportedly had nazi related tattoos inked on his legs.but if you asked him anything about the ideology or history behind them ,he couldn’t tell you a single fact.
there was no real belief behind the symbols.
it was just part of the performance,a costume for the bad boy role he so desperately wanted to play.
according to several people who knew him in Swindon, damian had also bragged about killing his friend’s dog,saying that when she couldn’t afford to have it put down, he offered to do it himself with a brick. now ,let’s hope to god that was just one of his lies.
but multiple people around him say it acctually happened.
that’s where things take a chilling turn.because torturing or killing animals, that’s not just cruelty.it’s a welldocummented early warning sign of future violence, especially in cases of extreme criminal behavior.
and he didnt’ stop there.it’s been said that he also got pleasure from torturing kittens. again this aren’t rumors whispered in passing.these are things that came up again and again when people looked into his past.
and if you think that sounds like the behavior of a deeply unstable individual, well , you’d be absolutely right. damian even claimed to have multiple personalitites, though this was never professionally diagnosed.
he told people he could snap at any moment. he had this twisted little rule.he’d give people three warnings and over , and if they crossed him a third time,then all bets were off.
no one was safe. that kind of volatility made him dangerous,unpredictable,and incapable of normal relationships.
of course, someone living with that level of chaos was bound to struggle with subtance abuse,too.damian had longstanding problems with alcohol and drugs, and he never seemed to care about getting help.
his habits controlled him , and because of that,he was always either in trouble or teetering on the edge of it . over the years,his criminal record stacked up like a wrap sheet out of a movie.
we talking about attempted robbery, armed robbery, assault, possession of a weapon,and grievous bodily harm.
one incident in 2015 really shows the kind of man he was. he tried to rob a local convenience store with a knife,but when the elderly shopkeeper grapped a golf club and came at him damian ran away.
so much for being the tough guy, right? he was a coward , plain and simple.
here’s the part that’s both frustrating and heartbreaking.
terry had no idea about any of this.when she met damian online,he didn’t come off as a dangerous criminal or a violent abuser.
he came off like many people do on the internet , normal,maybe even charming and that’s the terrifying truth about dating apps.
while they can help connect people,they also make it dangerously easy for someone to hide who they really are.
behind the profile picture and a few carefully crafted messages, anyone can look like a great catch.the internet is full of liars , manipulators, and worse. and it’s so easy to fall for someon’s act when all you’re seeing is the version they want you to see.
unfortunately , it didn’t take long for him to work his way into terry’s life.
it had only been a few months into their relationship when terry’s friends started to notice something wasn’t right.
whispers about damian’s past started to circulate.rumors of violent outbursts,past charges, and even criminal convictions.
these stories weren’t just petty gossip , either. they were red flags,warning signs that something dark was sitting just below the surface.
terry’s own mother, angela, was deeply worried . she didn’t like the way damian seemed to take over so quickly. she could sense that something about him was off.
and like any loving mother , she begged her daughter to reconsider the relationship.
she warned her repeatedly ,sometimes gently , other times more urgently, that damian might not be safe.especially around the kids.
and sadley, that mother’s intuition turned out to be neartbreakingly accurate. but terry ,being the gentle and compassionate women that she was ,believed in second chances.
she believed that people could change. she saw damian’s flaws,sure,but she also saw what she thought was potential.maybe he just needed a stable home,a bit of love,supportive environment
maybe he’d rise to the occasion. so , in september of 2020,only 5 months after meeting him online, terry made the lifealtering decisison to move damian into her home in kilamarsh.
she had just found out she was pregnant . and in that moment, it probably felt like a reason to believe .maybe this child would give damian a reason to become responsible.
maybe the baby would bring out a softer,more nurturing side of him.that’s what she hoped for.but damian hadn’t changed.not even close. his issues ran deep,far beyound what terry could ever fix with love and kindness.
even during his time in prison,he had been a mess. cellnmates would later describe him as being constantly high,barely function, and completely lost to the haze of synthetic drugs like spice.for those who don’t know, spice is a synthetic canabonoid that’s ship ,accessible, and extremely dangerous.
it’s wre havoc across the UK, particularly in prison, and damian ,he was one of its most chaotic consumers. so when damian moved into terry’s home in kilmarsh, he didn’t come with a clean slate , he came under heavy supervision.
at the time, he was already on probation for arson related offenses.
he was supposed to be reporting to an officer weekly.
on top of that he was required to wear an elcetronic ankle monitor and follow a strict curfew, meaning, he couldn’t leave the house without permission.
but what’s truly chilling is the fact that he was allowed to be bailed into a home that had two young children living inside. neither john paul nor lacy were related to him.
yet , no one from the probation office seemed to raise an eyebrow.
the arson conviction he was on probation for just another moment of reckless behavior while under the influence of hard drugs.over the years, damian had become heavily dependent on a cocktail of substances.
he told people he was clean.he told terry he was turning things around.but that .like most thing with him,was a lie. and tragically ,his drug use would be impossible to hide on one horrifying day. saturday the 18th of september,2021.
that weekend, the harris bendall houshold was buzzing with activity.the whole family was home and lacy had invited her close friend connie over for a sleepover.
the girls had big plans. they were raising money for cancer awareness, a cause close to their hearts. so they spent the day baking cakes and sweets, exited to sell them at the park.
it was the kind of wholesome,innocent activity that makes you believe in the goodness of the world, and that day,someone snapped a photo of the girl smiling brightly ,full of hope and joy.
what no one knew then,what no one could have known was that it would be the last photo ever take of them alive.
just hours after that final photo was taken , everything would shatter.the two young girls lacy and connie, would be dead alongside terry and her son john paul.
and the reason behind this horrific tragedy is all because of damian bendall. what happened next is almost too brutal to imagine.
after running through his stockpile of weed and alcohol,damian began consuming cocaine,three to four b ags of it throughout the day.
the drug use escalated,pushing him into a dangerous blackout state.when he realized he had run out, he desperately tried calling his dealer.making several attempts with no luck.
that’s when he snapped.in that moment ,all sense of reason and humanity vanished.
phone data later reveal that everything that followed happened within a horrifying span of just 18 minutes.fueld by rage and drugs, demian picked up a clawhammer.
his first target was terry. he attacked her in the living room,killing her, and the unborn child she was carrying.
thenhe marched upstairs and found john paul in the bathroom .he mudered him, too.next damian turned his fury on connie,lacy’s friend,before finally abusing and killing lacy herself.
and the details only gets more disturbing.autopsy reports later confirmed that lacy had been abused multiple times throughout the night.
damian had even position a mirror in the room so he could watch himself carry out the abuse.
by 6 the next morning ,damian casually grabbed john paul’s Xbox and walked out of the house,intending to sell it to buy more drugs. phone records show he continued trying tocontact his dealer .he even booked a cab.
and when the driver asked how his night had been ,he calmly replied,” not to bad .a bit mad”.
surveillance camera caught him walking through sheffield. Xbox in hand. after that he returned home .
called his mother while stopping at a convenience store,and was caught on CCTV buying cigarettes. blood still visible on his hand.
back at the house,he made a weak attempt to take his own life using a bread knife, then called emergency services.
over the phone,he chillingly confessed:
” the whole house is covered in claret. i used a hammer. obviously i’m going to prison because i murdered four people. i bet you don’t get four murders in killamarsh do you?”
officers rushed to the scene, and if you thought things couldn’t darker.when damian was taken into custody,he openly admitted to the murderes and even smirked while asking if killing terry’s unborn baby meant he technically murdered five people instead of four.
just 6 days later on september 24th ,2021,damian appeared at Derby Crown Court.after 15 months of investigation and court proceedings on december the 21st ,2022, he was found guilty on four counts of murder and one count of sexual assault.
he was sentenced to a whole lifetime in prison,meaning he will never under any circumstances be released.in the UK,whole life stentences are rare,reserved only for the most dangerous criminals.they’re given when there’s no hope for rehabilitation.
and whilte that may sound like justice, the legal process uncovered something even more disturbing. an inquest into the case revealed that there were 51 seperate failures made by probation system .
failures that directly contributed to damian being out of prison and allowed to leave in terry’s home. he had once been accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a 16 year old girl in foster care,but this wasn’t properly recorded in his file.
even more alarming,when he openly threatened to kill his partner and her children if things went wrong .the officer monitoring his electronic tag ,failed to report it.if this threat had been documented,Damian would never have been allowed to stay in the same home.
another key error,his risk level was marked as medium instead of high.if he’d been assessed correctly,his previous suspended sentence for arson would have likely landed him behind bars, keeping him far from terry and her family.
the probation officers involved in the case,later admitted they were overworked and understaffed.some even confessed to only reviewing two out of the 10 available background on damian.because of these severe,oversightes,one officer was dismissed for gross misconduct.
terry’s parents, angela and lawrence were heartbroken and furious.when the findings of the inquest were made public ,they released a powerful statement.
the probation service failed to protect and keep our family safe.they are now gone.this must never happen again. for many years ,they have been failing women and children at risk from violent men with a history of domestic abuse.
the senior coroner overseeing the case didn’t hold back either.in his remarks, he called out the probation service for trying to blame their failure on the covid -19 pandemic.he stated that the pandemic does not explain the totality of the acts, omissions or failures of the probation service
the service itself eventually admitted that they fell short on almost every level. they pledged to reform their broken system. and to help that happen, the government approved an additional £ 5 million in annual funding.
but with strict conditions. the money must go toward improving infrastructure and training probation officers to a higher standared.
jason bennett, the father of lacy and john paul ,shared several heartbreaking videos on social media,showing how deeply he loved his children and how unbearable the pain of losing them has been…
in the aftermath of the tragedy,neighbors placed a memorial plate on a tree outside the family home.the house itself remained abandoned.
eventually ,it was boarded up for good.even the neighbors in the jadjoing home asked to be relocated the pain was too close ,too real.
after everyone had moved out,sheffield coucil made the final decision to demolish the entire building.
in its place now stands an extension ot the park next door. a quiet green space ,a peacful resting place where once stood a house build with unimaginable horror.