Probation officer failures left ‘sleepover killer’ free
Multiple chances were missed to prevent murders of mother and children, inspection report reveals
A SLEEPOVER killer was monitored by an inexperienced, unqualified probation officer before he murdered his pregnant partner and three children, an inspection report reveals today.
It found that probation officers missed multiple chances to prevent Damien Bendall, 33, from killing Terri Harris and the children – one of whom was sleeping over at their house in Killamarsh, Derbyshire, last September three months after he received a suspended sentence for arson.
Bendall had been wrongly classed as “medium risk” and freed on the suspended sentence because probation officers failed to take account of his violent criminal past, a previous allegation of domestic abuse by an ex-partner and a police alert over his alleged sexual exploitation of a 16-year-old girl.
Instead of being sent to jail, he was allowed to live with Ms Harris and her children on an “entirely inappropriate” curfew supervised by a probation officer who had just six months’ experience in the criminal justice system.
Much of the officer’s training had been online with “significant periods” of absence. She had been allocated to Bendall even though she was Asian and he had a history of “racially aggravated violence” and claimed past membership of a white supremacist group. Some of his previous victims were Asian.
Her supervisor had asked for a change of role because it was impossible for her to manage 30 junior staff when the recommended limit was 10.
The Probation Service’s failings in this case were first reported by The Daily Telegraph last year.
Justin Russell, chief inspector of probation, said it was the “most concerning” case in his four years in post. “The service’s assessment and management of Bendall at every stage fell far below what was required,” he said. A report by Mr Russell in September found around 500 serious offences a year were being committed by offenders under supervision, including 100 killings. The agency has been beset by scandals including that of Joseph Mccann, who went on a rampage of sexual violence while under supervision. Mr Russell said: “The Probation Service’s assessment and management of risk is not fit for purpose.”
He made 17 recommendations, which have all been accepted by the Ministry of Justice. He said that had probation officers advising the judge not left out “vital information” about his risk to the public, he could have been jailed rather than being freed on a suspended sentence to murder three months later.
Not only should his past, including robbery, weapons and grievous bodily harm, have flagged concern but two pieces of critical intelligence were overlooked despite being on his probation and police records. One in May 2016 involved an ex-partner who made two requests for him not to contact her because of his past violence – one to HMP Exeter in May 2016 and one to Bendall’s previous probation practitioner two months later, said the report.
Police wanted to give Bendall an abduction warning notice in March 2020 for his involvement with a 16-yearold girl in care. Mr Russell’s report said Wiltshire Police’s contact with probation was “readily available” but “probation practitioners and managers all failed to read this contact”.
“Had Bendall’s risk of serious harm to the public and children been correctly assessed as high, and had his risk of serious harm to partners been correctly assessed as medium, the court may not have curfewed him to an address with Ms Harris and her children,” said the investigation report.
Mr Russell said probation took the “egregious” decision to let Bendall live with Ms Harris “without speaking to her, visiting the property, conducting domestic inquiries or taking into account past domestic abuse claims”.
The report found Bendall attended only seven appointments in three months, three by phone. He avoided doing any of the 175 hours of unpaid work the court had ordered him and skipped compulsory alcohol treatment.
By the time of the murder, he was smoking cannabis and drinking, both previously linked to his violence. On discovering this, another probation officer demanded a face-to-face meeting. It was set for a Monday but that weekend, fuelled by cocaine, he used a hammer to kill Ms Harris, her children John Bennett, 13, Lacey Bennett, 11, and Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, also 11.
‘The Probation Service’s assessment and management of risk is not fit for purpose’