Heartbroken father of schoolgirl Connie Gent, 11, murdered by vile killer Damien Bendall, places a floral tribute to his daughter instead of Christmas decorations as he calls for the return of the death penalty
- The father of murdered schoolgirl Connie Gent has made a floral tribute to her
- He also called for the return of the death penalty in a recent post on Facebook
- A neighbour said the father was ‘really suffering’ after the shocking killing
- Connie was one of four murdered by drug addict Damien Bendall in Killamarsh
The heartbroken father of murdered schoolgirl Connie Gent has placed a floral tribute in his window instead of Christmas decorations as he called for her killer to receive the death penalty.
Connie and her school friend Lacey Bennett, both 11, were murdered by drug addict Damien Bendall, along with Lacey’s mother Terri Harris and brother John Paul, 13.
Heavy cannabis user Bendall, 32, was jailed for life on Wednesday for the murders and the rape of a child in Killamarsh, Derbyshire last year.
Today it emerged that Connie’s grieving father Charles Gent, 37, has displayed Connie’s funeral wreath spelling out her name in his window, decorated with fairy lights, in memory of his daughter.
Connie Gent, 11, was murdered by drug addict Damien Bendall in Killamarsh last year
Connie’s grieving father Charles Gent, 37, has displayed Connie’s funeral wreath spelling out her name in his window
A neighbour said: ‘The poor bloke is really suffering and we all feel for him. Obviously he can’t celebrate anything this Christmas, but putting his little girl’s name in the window says it all.’
Meanwhile, in a recent Facebook post, DJ Charles wrote that Bendall should receive the death penalty for killing his daughter.
At Derby Crown Court yesterday, depraved Bendall finally admitted murder and raping schoolgirl Lacey during the attack in September 2021.
Prosecutor Louis Mably KC said Bendall – who once boasted about killing a dog with a brick – murdered each victim in a different room in the house with a claw hammer.
He said Lacey was raped as she lay dying, adding: ‘The circumstances are truly hideous. Terri was in the early stages of pregnancy.
‘It appears the defendant went around the house looking for them and attacking them each in turn.
‘These were brutal, vicious and cruel attacks on a defenceless woman and three young children.
‘The defendant attacked them using a claw hammer which he used to hit them over the head and on the upper body.
‘It was perfectly clear none of the victims stood a chance.’
Terri had first moved to Killamarsh in September 2020 and had tried to keep the address secret from Bendall, who she had first met on a dating website in April of that year.
Bendall was jailed for life on Wednesday after admitting to the four murders in a drug-fuelled rampage
Lacey Bennett, 11, (left), John, 13, (right), and their mother Terri Harris, 35, were also murdered by Bendall in the sickening rampage
But by August 2021 she told a friend she and the defendant were trying for a baby and at around this time she told her mother she intended to marry him.
On the day of the attacks the children had put up a stall outside the house selling sweets to raise money for Cancer Research.
Telephone evidence, including texts, helped explain the sequence of events and sheds light on the deteriorating relationship between Bendall and Terri.
Mr Mably said: ‘One piece of evidence is a piece dated from September 16, just before the weekend in question, when a neighbour was on the pavement in Chandos Crescent and was just across the road from the house when she saw the defendant leaving the property and shout ‘this is not finished yet.’
‘The witness thought at the time she wouldn’t let someone speak to her in that fashion.’
Yesterday, Lacey and John Paul’s father Jason Bennett also spoke of his agony, saying: ‘The murder of my two children has destroyed me and taken my life away.
‘I can’t kiss them and tell them I love them and now I have nothing to fight for.
‘I used to be scared of dying now I’m not scared at all I just want the pain I feel to end.
‘John and Lacey were innocent and I cannot comprehend why someone would take innocent lives.’
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