31-year-old Damien Bendall has since been charged with all four murders.
An inquest has found that the three children and a woman who died at a sleepover in Derbyshire were killed in a “violent attack”, Sky News reports.
The bodies of John Paul Bennett (13), Lacey Bennet (11), their mother Terri Harris (35) and Lacey’s friend, Connie Gent (11) were found at a house on Chandos Crescent in Killamarsh.
31-year-old Damien Bendall has since been charged with all four murders.
The inquest, which was opened at Chesterfield Coroner’s Court today, heard that after a relative of Bendall’s alerted police to his self-inflected wound, officers attended the property in Killamarsh and discovered the bodies. The defendant has been remanded in custody.
Coroner Peter Nieto said that early indications from post-mortem results showed that a violent act caused the deaths.
The inquest has now been suspended until the pending criminal trial is concluded.
Mr Nieto said: “Obviously extremely tragic events have occurred and obviously everybody’s thoughts are with the family of the victims.”
Jason Bennett, the father of John Paul and Lacey has paid tribute to all the victims of the attack.
He told Sky News: “I’m broken, I just want to kiss my babies. I just want to kiss them and hold them. TikTok queen and my beautiful boy, they were beautiful. Kindest people you could ever meet.”
Last week, over 30 people attended a vigil honouring John Paul, Lacey, Terri and Connie, with the local community coming together to share their grief.
