A man accused of murdering a mother and three children has been further charged with raping a girl under 13.<\/p>\n
Damien Bendall, 31, is now alleged to have raped and murdered 11-year-old Lacey Bennett, as well as being accused of killing her brother John Paul Bennett, 13, their mother Terri Harris, 35, and Lacey\u2019s friend Connie Gent, 11.<\/p>\n
The charges come after four bodies were discovered at a house in Chandos Crescent, Killamarsh, near Sheffield, South Yorkshire, on September 19.<\/p>\n
Bendall was due before Nottingham Crown Court on Friday for a plea hearing, but the case was adjourned to January 4 at the crown court in Derby.<\/p>\n
The murder charges allege he killed all four on a day between Friday September 17 and Monday September 20.<\/p>\n
An inquest opening at Chesterfield Coroner\u2019s Court previously heard the four died as a result of a \u201cviolent attack\u201d.<\/p>\n
The coroner\u2019s court also heard how a relative of Bendall had phoned police to say the defendant had suffered a self-inflicted stab wound.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the CPS said: \u201cThe Crown Prosecution Service has authorised a further charge for Damien Bendall, 31, after reviewing a file of evidence from Derbyshire Police. He has now been charged with rape of a girl under 13.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Bendall was previously charged with four counts of murder in relation to an incident in Killamarsh, Derbyshire.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe additional charge was today confirmed to the court at a hearing held at Nottingham Crown Court.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll are reminded that criminal proceedings against the defendant are active and that he has the right to a fair trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A man accused of murdering a mother and three children has been further charged with raping a girl under 13. Damien Bendall, 31, is now alleged to have raped and murdered 11-year-old Lacey Bennett, as well as being accused of killing her brother John Paul Bennett, 13, their mother Terri Harris, 35, and Lacey\u2019s friend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":35027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-story"],"yoast_head":"\n