Damien Bendall, who went on to murder his pregnant partner and three children, rated as ‘medium’ rather than ‘high risk’
The probation officer who judged Damien Bendall, who has been jailed for life for murdering three children and his pregnant partner, to be “medium” rather than “high risk” has reportedly been sacked for gross misconduct.
Bendall, 32, was sentenced to five whole-life sentences this week for the killings in Killamarsh, Derbyshire last September, which took place three months after he was given a suspended sentence for arson.
The probation officer had prepared a file for the sentencing judge that categorised Bendall as “medium risk”, according to a report by the Daily Telegraph. Some probation officials told the newspaper they believed it was unlikely Bendall would have been able to carry out the murders if the pre-sentence report had accurately reflected the danger that he posed.
The chief inspector of probation has been asked to carry out a full review of the case by the Ministry of Justice. It is believed the report will be published in the new year.
Bendall killed his partner, Terri Harris, 35, with a hammer, as well as her children John Paul Bennett, 13, Lacey Bennett, 11, and Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, 11, who was staying at the house.
Bendall also raped Lacey as she lay dying. He admitted the charges at Derby crown court on Wednesday.
Sir Robert Buckland, who was justice secretary until three days before the Killamarsh murders, said: “I think we have to acknowledge that such an error is just an appalling failure.
“The ministry has to be as open and transparent as possible about why it happened, and most importantly to make sure the risk of that happening again is kept to a minimum, if not eliminated.
“Frankly, there should be processes in place that means various thresholds and tests would be met before that sort of fundamental mistake could be made.”
Sources within the probation service told the Telegraph that the officer who compiled the pre-sentence report failed to access all the available background information on Bendall.
Details are entered on to the Offender Assessment System (Oasys), which calculates an offender’s risk. It can take up to eight or nine hours to carry out.
A source within the probation service said: “The risk assessment came out lower than it should have been. He should have been flagged as ‘high risk of harm’ but he was graded ‘medium risk’ instead. As a result, he was allocated to a trainee – it wouldn’t have happened if he’d been ‘high risk’.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “These were appalling crimes, and our thoughts remain with the victims’ families. The deputy prime minister asked the chief inspector of probation to conduct a review of this case, and we will respond further once this is published.”
