A senior probation officer has informed inquests into the deaths of the victims of Damien Bendall that errors have been made within the dealing with of the case, however this was for “very, very justified causes”.
Tracey Hume informed Chesterfield Coroner’s Court docket that Bendall’s case was one in every of 350 she needed to oversee when she allotted it to a probation officer with simply six months expertise.
She didn’t settle for the suggestion that allocating Bendall’s supervision to her junior colleague, Aisha Fatima, was a poor resolution primarily based on what she knew on the time, however mentioned the choice to not reallocate it when clear proof later emerged that Bendall posed a excessive danger was an “error of judgment”.
Bendall, 33, was given an entire life order final 12 months for murdering 35-year-old Terri Harrisher kids, 13-year-old John Paul Bennett and 11-year-old Lacey Bennett, and Lacey’s buddy, 11-year-old Connie Gent, in September 2021.
When requested by Kirsten Heaven, representing Ms Harris’ dad and mom, Angela Smith and Lawrence Harris, whether or not her “lack {of professional} curiosity” constituted an “egregious failure”, Ms Hume mentioned: “I feel with the circumstances I can’t say it was egregious.
“I can say it was an error of judgment below the circumstances I used to be working below. I used to be attempting to juggle every thing.”
She later mentioned: “Whereas I’m not attempting to be defensive and say it was not egregious, what I’m attempting to say is I can’t handle or micromanage 350 circumstances.
“So whereas sure, I admire there have been errors, I’m simply saying there have been very, very justified causes as to why I didn’t see all of those on the time.”
Weeks earlier than the killings in June 2021, Bendall had been given a suspended sentence for an unrelated arson offence, after being incorrectly categorised as posing a low danger to companions and youngsters and a medium danger to the general public, by a unique probation officer.
As a part of that sentence, Bendall was given a five-month curfew requirement at Ms Harris’s tackle in Chandos Crescent, Killamarsh, Derbyshireand his case was allotted to Ms Fatima by Ms Hume.
The inquests had beforehand heard that Ms Fatima had little or no expertise within the prison justice system and will solely deal with low-risk offenders, however when requested if this resolution was a mistake primarily based on what she knew on the time, Ms Hume replied: “I don’t imagine that in any respect.”
Nonetheless, the courtroom heard that Ms Hume and her colleagues turned conscious of Bendall’s violent previous, which included convictions for a number of severe offences relationship again to 2004, as early as July 6 2021.
There was additionally info obtainable suggesting that Bendall had reported himself as displaying sociopathic and psychopathic tendencies and that he was utilizing each alcohol and medicines whereas residing with Ms Harris, Lacey and John Paul, however Ms Hume admitted she by no means actively sought this info.
No effort was made to talk to Ms Harris by both the authors of the pre-sentence report or those that supervised Bendall after sentencing, with Ms Hume admitting it was additionally an error to not immediate Ms Fatima to aim to contact Ms Harris.
Moreover, Ms Hume acknowledged there have been “missed alternatives” to find that Bendall had beforehand been accused of home violence.
A subsequent report into Bendall’s case by the Inspectorate of Probation highlighted a litany of failures and singled out Ms Hume’s allocation resolution as “one other instance of poor allocation follow so as to add to the opposite severe points” that have been recognized.
However Ms Hume had informed the Inspectorate that workers have been put below “inconceivable strain” and informed the inquests that prime workloads prevented her from fulfilling the oversight necessities of her function.
She mentioned: “Within the circumstances that we have been below, in the kind of absolute strain on everyone, I did each single factor that I may for this case and each single one in every of my circumstances.
“At the moment I had 350 circumstances that I used to be overseeing via the individuals I managed. I did every thing I may.
“It was not doable to do completely every thing on the listing of issues we wanted to do.”
The inquests proceed.