A depraved killer who murdered a pregnant mum and three children at a sleepover will die behind bars.
Damien Bendall, 32, was handed a whole life order for killing his 35-year-old girlfriend Terri Harris, her 11-year-old daughter Lacey Bennett, her son John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey's friend Connie Gent, also 11, at a home in Derbyshire.
He had also pleaded guilty to raping Lacey in the "brutal, vicious and cruel attacks", in which he murdered each victim in a different room using a claw hammer, the court heard.
Sentencing Bendall for four counts of murder and one of rape, High Court judge Mr Justice Sweeney said family impact statements attested in moving terms to each victim who had been "so horrifically taken away" and their families' "utter devastation."
The judge told him: "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 ferocity of the murders was such that the skulls of the victims were "literally smashed in," the judge added.
Bendall did not look up when he was sentenced nor when he was led away by two dock officers.
The judge referred to a number of aggravating features, including three of the victims being at home, him being in a relationship with Terri when he murdered her and his conduct after the offences.
The judge said the only mitigating feature was Bendall's guilty plea.
He said: "You make plain you don't seek to rely on your plea of guilty. I have concluded notwithstanding your pleas it remains appropriate to conclude a whole life order."
Giving his reaction to the whole-life order handed to Damien Bendall, the deputy chief crown prosecutor for the East Midlands, Andrew Baxter, said: "It is hard to put into words the scale of Damien Bendall's barbaric and horrifying actions.
"He went through the house looking for the victims until he had killed them all, raping one of the children in the attack.
"What he did left two families utterly devastated by grief and a community in bewilderment and shock.
"I offer my heartfelt sympathies to the families of Terri, John-Paul and Lacey and Connie, who have suffered an unimaginable ordeal, and who still have waited patiently and with great dignity to see justice done. My thoughts are with them.
"I would also like to thank my dedicated legal team who worked tirelessly on the case to ensure this offender won't harm anyone else."
