Terrible tragedy has rocked this community to its core
FOR the third day in a row I find myself sitting in the September sunshine less than 100 yards from the tragic and shocking scene where four people, including three children, lost their lives.
The floral tributes, which were started by the father of two of the children on Monday morning, continue to arrive, along with the balloons, teddy bears and candles.
The messages on the cards are truly heartbreaking, even from those who did not know the families involved.
Next to the flowers stands a lone police officer and beyond the cordon forensics officers continue their painstaking investigation to work out what happened in Chandos Crescent on Sunday morning.
The officers in that house are trying to answer the question that has gripped the whole community here in Killamarsh – why?
Killamarsh is like any former mining community you could come across in North East Derbyshire; it is a town I know well. I have friends and family who call the area home and I grew up not far away in the nearby village of Swallownest.
People here are friendly, chatty and look after each other when the need arises. Within earshot of the scene you can hear children playing at St Giles Primary School, but the atmosphere here remains different to anything I’ve ever experienced before in this town.
The incident, for which 31-year old Damien Bendall has been charged with four counts of murder, has rocked the community to its core.
The clamour for answers to why it has happened, on this seemingly normal residential street in a seemingly normal Derbyshire town, has led some people to speculate and to pass those opinions onto others, including the media. That has put a great pressure on me and the other reporters who have been here covering the incident. However, we have a responsibility to cover the facts and not be drawn into rumour or speculation.
We also, however shocking, callous and disrespectful it may seem, have a responsibility to report what happened here and get people’s reactions to this incident.
Have I felt comfortable covering it? Not for one second.
I have covered some of the biggest stories in the country over the past decade of my career, but this has been the toughest.
My connection to the town, to the people and even to the families involved and seeing the pain they are going through has made it so, but as a reporter I have a duty to tell people what has happened.
Some reporters have speculated, but there are laws in place to control what we are and are not able to report and those rules are there for a reason so you, the reader, can be sure what you are reading is accurate, truthful and honest.
There aren’t many positives to come out of this whole shocking incident, but one is the way the community has rallied round.
As someone who used to call this area of the country home I’m not surprised, but incredibly proud of what the Killamarsh people have done in response.
From the 300-plus people who attended the vigil on Baker Park on Monday evening; to those who have donated thousands to a GoFundMe page; to those who still come to pay their respects; and the local church, St Giles, which opened its doors so people have a place to go to silently reflect on what has happened here.
Three days on, people are still coming to lay their flowers and being overcome with emotion, and it is completely understandable.
Killamarsh has had many a difficult moment in its long history and it has always bounced back, healed and moved forward. However this time it is truly hard to see how the community can move on from this, how can it heal when something so awful, so tragic, so horrendous has happened right on their doorstep.