Damien Bendall: Home where family were killed is demolished

Demolition work began at the house earlier this month

A house where three children and a woman were murdered in Derbyshire has been demolished.

Damien Bendall killed his partner Terri Harris, her children John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey Bennett, 11, and Lacey's friend Connie Gent, 11, in Chandos Crescent, Killamarsh, in 2021.

In December he was given a whole-life sentence after pleading guilty to the murders.

North East Derbyshire Council said the demolition work began on 21 July.

A council spokesman said: "Work continues to remove the waste from [the] site. Once the waste is fully removed, the area will be landscaped and turfed in line with the wishes of the family."

Planning permission was granted to proceed with the demolition and planning notices were placed at the site from the week commencing 12 June, for 21 days, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The semi-detached property had stood boarded-up since the murders, with a small plaque in honour of the deceased on a cherry tree in the garden as the only indicator of what happened on 18 September two years ago.

Police found Terri Harris and the three children dead at the house in Chandos Crescent

Derbyshire Police received a phone call from Dorset Police at 07:26 BST on 19 September.

The phone call was made by a relative of Bendall and indicated to Dorset Police that he had suffered a stab wound and that was self-inflicted.

Derbyshire Police was alerted and officers were dispatched to Chandos Crescent and were met by Bendall when they arrived at 07:39.

Bendall, who was 31 at the time, told officers: "I need the police and an ambulance because I just killed four people."

Mr Justice Nigel Sweeney sentenced Bendall to a whole-life jail term, meaning he will stay behind bars for the rest of his life with no chance of parole.

Terri Harris (bottom left) and her children John Paul Bennett (top left) and Lacey Bennett (bottom right) were found dead along with Lacey's friend Connie Gent (top right)