Damien Bendall: This is when defendant is now due to enter pleas at court in Killamarsh quadruple murder case
Damien Bendall, who is accused of murdering three children and a woman at a home in Killamarsh, has had his plea hearing pushed back yet again.
The 31-year-old was due to appear at Derby Crown Court to enter his guilty or not guilty pleas today, Friday, February 25.
But the court confirmed this morning that the hearing has been postponed until Wednesday, March 9, as one of the reports required had not been completed in time.
It is the latest delay, with a judge last month expressing her frustration at what she called the ‘continued delay in this case’.
Bendall is charged with the rape and murder of 11-year-old Lacey Bennett, as well as being accused of murdering Lacey’s brother John Paul Bennett, 13, their mother Terri Harris, 35, and Lacey's friend Connie Gent, 11.
The charges come after four bodies were discovered at a house in Chandos Crescent, Killamarsh, near Sheffield, South Yorkshire, on September 19.
The court has previously heard how there had been delays at Bendall’s prison in performing a medical scan on the defendant.
A hearing scheduled for December 2021 was delayed for similar reasons.
A provisional trial date of March 21 has been set.
The murder charges allege that Bendall killed all four people sometime between September 17 and September 19 last year.
Chesterfield Coroner's Court previously heard that the four people died as a result of a ‘violent attack’.
Terri, the woman he is accused of killing, had recently moved to Killamarsh with her children from Woodhouse in Sheffield. Connie still lived in Woodhouse.
John Paul, Lacey and Connie all attended Outwood Academy City in Stradbroke, Sheffield.