EXCLUSIVE: Shopkeeper calls Damien Bendall a 'monster'

EXCLUSIVE: Shopkeeper who was threatened with a knife by vile child killer Damien Bendall says: ‘That man is a monster and deserves to rot in jail’

• Narendra Patel, 69, chased the killer with a golf club after being threatened Looking back on the 2015 incident he said: ‘ I’m glad he’ll never be free’
• Damien Bendall was jailed for a four murders that took place in Sheffield 

One of vile child killer Damien Bendall’s former victims told today how he is happy the brute will never be free and said: ‘That man is a monster and deserves to rot in jail.’

Shopkeeper Narendra Patel was threatened with a knife by Bendall when he tried to rob his store in June 2015 but he chased him out with a golf club.

Mr Patel welcomed news that the twisted 32-year-old will die behind bars after being given a whole life prison sentence yesterday for a shocking quadruple murder.

Damien Bendall, 32, will die behind bars after being given a whole life prison sentence yesterday for a shocking quadruple murder that took place near Sheffield

Bendall admitted bludgeoning to death his pregnant partner Terri Harris, 35, her 11-year-old daughter Lacey Bennett and son John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey’s 11-year-old friend Connie Gent, who was on a sleepover at the family home near Sheffield last September.

He also confessed to raping Lacey as she lay dying.

Recalling his own encounter with the beast seven years ago, 69-year-old Mr Patel, who owns Sherborne Place newsagents in Bendall’s hometown of Swindon, Wiltshire, told MailOnline today: ‘I now wish my golf club connected with his head but he was too quick and ran out the store like a coward and never came back.

‘What he did to those children and his partner is evil beyond words. I’m glad he’ll never be free.’

Bendall confronted Mr Patel with a seven-inch blade and demanded cash and cigarettes but did not bank on the plucky pensioner keeping the golf club behind the counter for protection.

Narendra Patel, 69, chased the killer with a golf club after being threatened at his newsagents in Swindon, Wiltshire

He swung at Bendall but the thug managed to dive down just in time and was then chased out of the shop by 5ft 7 Mr Patel.

Mr Patel recalled: ‘He came into the shop at quarter to ten on the morning of June 7, 2015.

‘He was pacing up and down the shop, looking out the window. I was suspicious as soon as he came in.

‘I kept a close eye on him. I remember he phoned someone and was still staring out the window before he finished the call and moved over to the fridge.

‘He was lurking there for a while before deciding to buy some cold drinks. I put them into a bag for him and then he went back to the window and made a second call.

‘After finishing that second call he came back up to counter and pulled up his sleeve and showed me a knife with a blade of about seven inches.

‘He said “give me your money and cigarettes” but I instinctively reached for the golf club I keep by the counter for protection.

‘I grabbed it and tried to hit him over the head with it as he had lunged towards me but he ducked down just in time.

‘I then ran around the counter and chased him out the shop like the coward he is. He ran off. He was far too quick for me.’

Mr Patel alerted police who sent sniffer dogs and called in the force helicopter but to no avail.

However, Bendall called Wiltshire Police himself and confessed to the crime 12-days later.

He appeared before Swindon Crown Court later that year and was jailed for three years.

Mr Patel, who has owned the business for more than 20-years, added: ‘I was happy with the sentence at the time and the fact he had called the police himself and owned up, I’d hoped he would turn his life around.

Bendall admitted bludgeoning to death his pregnant partner Terri Harris, 35, her 11-year-old daughter Lacey Bennett and son John Paul Bennett, 13

‘But he didn’t and went on to commit an act far, far worse. He will never leave prison, that’s the best place for him.’

A whole-life order is the single most severe punishment in English criminal law, it means that shaven-headed, tattooed Bendall will spend the rest of his life in prison, with no minimum term and no chance of early release.

He had lived in Swindon at the beginning of 2021 before moving to Killamarsh, Derbyshire, initially pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

He was set to face trial for murder but changed his pleas to guilty at Derby Crown Court yesterday.

Bendall also admitted to killing Lacey’s 11-year-old friend Connie Gent who was on a sleepover at the family home near Sheffield last September

Sentencing him, Mr Justice Sweeney said: ‘On your behalf Bendall, it is accepted that the seriousness of your offences is so exceptionally high the court must make a whole-life order. I agree.

‘You are now aged 32 and have a significant background of violent offending, including robbery.

‘As the prosecution have said, you carried out brutal, vicious and cruel attacks on a defenceless woman and three young children.’

The court had heard how Bendall went room-by-room and attacked each victim with a claw hammer, striking them in the head and upper body.

He then raped 11-year-old Lacey at least twice, positioning a mirror to watch himself doing so.

Her friend Connie had only been due to stay over for one night, but successfully got permission from her mother to extend her stay by another night – coinciding with Bendall’s attacks, the court heard.

Bendall also took John’s Xbox games console, ordered a taxi, went to Sheffield, where he then exchanged the console ‘for drugs.’

The killer would later tell police he had consumed ‘three to four bags of cocaine and then blacked out’.

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