Sleepover killer Damien Bendall has allegedly left a fellow inmate fighting for their life after smashing their skull with a claw hammer in a prison workshop.
Bendall, 34, brutally killed his partner Terri Harris, 35, as well as her children John Paul Bennett, 13, and 11-year-old Lacey Bennett at the mother’s home in Killamarsh, Derbyshire, in 2021.
He also killed Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, also 11, who was staying over for a sleepover in the horrifying massacre.
Fuelled by cocaine, Bendall raped 11-year-old Lacey as she lay dying – then stole John Paul’s games console and took it to a dealer to exchange for drugs.
Now the killer is said to have bludgeoned his inmate victim three or four times and they may not survive, sources told The Sun.
‘This is a shocking and horrendous attack even by the standards of Frankland, which is a grim and violent place,’ a source said.
Damien Bendall (pictured) is serving a whole life term for murdering a mother, her two children and one of their friends in September 2021
A picture issued by Derbyshire Police of Terri Harris with her children Lacey and John Paul
Terri Harris, 35, was killed by her partner Bendall, who bludgeoned her to death with a claw hammer
Bendall murdered Ms Harris’s daughter Lacey Bennett (left) and Connie Gent (right), both 11 – raping Lacey as she lay dying from the injuries he inflicted
Police are understood to have been investigating Friday’s alleged attack at Frankland Prison in County Durham.
The Prison Service said: ‘We cannot comment on a live police investigation but prisoners who are violent face tough punishments.’
Durham Police said: ‘An investigation is under way.’
Bendall was given a whole-life tariff for killing his four victims the previous year at a house in Killamarsh, Derbyshire.
Bendall, originally from Swindon, Wiltshire had a history of serious and violent offences dating back to 2004.
Chilling audio was released after Bendall’s conviction of the 999 call he made after he beat his four victims to death, alongside video of his arrest in which he alluded to his previous offending.
In body-worn camera footage from an officer called to the scene, he can be heard saying: ‘I know what’s going to happen. I’m going to go prison. Again.’
His trial heard he had attacked his victims so viciously that he caved in their skulls.