Hundreds attend vigil after mum, two children, and friend ‘on a sleepover’ found dead
Hundreds of people have attended a vigil in Killamarsh, near Sheffield, to remember a mother and three children who were found dead in the village.
A crowd of around 300, including many children, turned up on Monday evening – a few hundred metres from where Terri Harris, 35, was found dead with her children, John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey Bennett, 11, and Lacey’s friend, Connie Gent, also aged 11.
A 31-year-old man from Killamarsh has been arrested and police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths.
Hundreds, some in tears, gathered to listen to a prayer by David Taylor, pastor of Killamarsh Church on the Street
A neighbour said she understood Connie had been at the house in Chandos Crescent for a sleepover.
Some people placed candles, while others brought flowers and teddy bears to lay in tribute.
There were tears as the pastor of Killamarsh Church on the Street, David Taylor, led the attendees in a prayer.
Mr Taylor said: “I’m not enjoying today. It’s a very sad today but it’s absolutely incredible that so many people have joined us tonight.
“What do you say at time like this? It’s so difficult.”
The pastor added: “I can’t give you any answers. I don’t have the answers. But each one of you is here to remember four people who are no longer with us.
“And it is a day that we’ll all remember because this doesn’t happen in Killamarsh. But it has.
“Some of you know the family; some of you know the children; some of you will have never seen them before.
“But you’re all here to show your respect. On behalf of the family I just say, ‘thank you’.”
Some people placed candles, while others brought flowers and teddy bears to lay in tribute
Earlier, John and Lacey’s father Jason Bennett spoke to Sky News as he laid flowers outside the property where the group was found.
“I’m broken, I just want to kiss my babies,” he told Sky’s Becky Johnson. “I just want to kiss them and hold them. TikTok queen and my beautiful boy, they were beautiful. Kindest people you could ever meet.”
Writing on Facebook, Mr Bennett added: “My beautiful boy John and beautiful daughter Lacey have been taken away from me.
“Their mum Terri also lost her life and Lacey’s best friend was also taken away from this world.”
Mr Bennett said he had been making a four-hour journey home when he was told of the deaths, adding that it had “absolutely broken my heart into a million pieces”.
“I didn’t protect my beautiful babies enough from the monsters and now they have been suddenly taken away from me.”
Terri Harris, 35, was found dead alongside her two children and one of their friends. Pic: Facebook
At a news conference on Monday afternoon, Chief Constable Rachel Swann of Derbyshire police said a team of detectives had been “working through the night” to understand what led to the deaths.
In a statement, Derbyshire Constabulary said they were called to the home in Killamarsh at around 7.25am on Sunday following concerns about a man in the area.
The 31-year-old remains in custody. Officers did not have any prior contact with those involved, police added.
Derbyshire Constabulary said they were called to the home near Sheffield at around 7.25am on Sunday
Mr Bennett’s parents Debbie and Trevor Bennett also visited the scene of the incident on Monday.
Mrs Bennett said both children loved football – Lacey was a “proper” girl and John enjoyed his computers.
She added: “I don’t know how he’ll [Jason] come through this. He’s going to need a lot of strength.”
A judo Olympian has said her family is “devastated” after the discovery of body in the search for her missing brother.
Lubjana Piovesana, 28, appealed for help to find her younger sibling, Luis, 26, on Saturday. He had not been seen since the early hours of Friday morning.
A body was found in the River Frome near Napier Road in Eastville, Bristol, at around 6pm today, Avon and Somerset Police said.
Formal identification is yet to take place, the force added.
In a post on Instagram, Ms Piovesana wrote: “Hello everyone, Luis has been found.
“We are completely devastated but he has passed away.
“I am grateful for everyone’s support. And I am so sorry this happened.
“Luis was my little brother and loved by everyone. I wish he could have seen the love from everyone. He will be remembered by us all.”
The post was signed off with a dove emoji.
Luis Piovesana did not have any money or his mobile phone with him when he went missing, police said. Pics: Avon & Somerset Police
Mr Piovesana was last seen at around 3am on Friday at the Eastgate retail park, which is less than a 10-minute walk away from where the body was found.
He had travelled there by taxi from a venue in Little Ann Street, St Jude’s, a 10-minute drive away.
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The 26-year-old’s family spent the weekend searching for him, and asked people to check their sheds and gardens.
His partner, Laurin Bohler, said loved ones had travelled from Birmingham to help.
Mounted officers and police drones were also involved in the investigation.
Ms Piovesana competed for Team GB before switching to the Austrian team, and defeated British competitor Lucy Renshall in the women’s -63kg judo event at the Paris Olympics last year.
A man has been jailed for life for murdering his son’s girlfriend after she returned home from the school run.
Officers from Dyfed-Powys Police were called to an address on Bigyn Road in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, on 5 July last year.
Sophie Evans, 30, had sustained 72 separate injuries on the outside of the body, “all but three of them new injuries”.
Richard Jones, who is now 50, believed he was “being taken advantage of financially” by Ms Evans and his son, with whom she was in a relationship.
While the purpose of Jones’s visit was “purely normal”, he confronted her on that morning about his suspicions and Ms Evans’s reaction was such that Jones “lost [his] temper”.
He subjected Ms Evans to “gross violence” before ultimately strangling her and leaving the property to run errands, including ordering a new bank card and buying pastries from a bakery.
Richard Jones. Pic: Dyfed-Powys Police
‘Last time on their school run’
During sentencing on Monday, the defendant kept his head bowed for most of the hearing.
He will have to serve at least 20 years behind bars before he can be considered for release by the parole board.
Swansea Crown Court heard Ms Evans was the mother of two young children.
Passing his sentence, Judge Geraint Walters said Ms Evans “had just taken her two children for the last time on their school run” prior to the attack.
“She wasn’t to know that when she parted company with them that morning,” he added.
The court heard the Jones believed he was being defrauded by Ms Evans and his son.
“There is clear evidence, that in the days leading up to this, that you had begun harbouring thoughts that Sophie Evans and your own son were in fact financially scamming you,” he said.
“What precisely brought about that view is difficult to determine.”
Judge Walters said Jones “lost [his] temper when [he] didn’t get the answer that [he] thought [he] deserved”.
He added that, having lost his temper, the defendant “subjected [Ms Evans] to gross violence over a period of time, before you ultimately extinguished her life by strangulation”.
The court was told in evidence that at the time of the attack, Ms Evans was wearing only a bath towel.
‘The rock of our family’
In a victim personal statement, Ms Evans’s sister Kerry Quinlan told the court she was “the rock of our family”.
She said Ms Evans was taken from them in a “senseless and cruel act”.
“Words cannot express fully how much of a loss this has been to her children,” she added.
“When they cry themselves to sleep wanting their mum, she isn’t there and never will be.”
Ms Quinlan added that Jones had “taken everything from us, all in the most despicable way possible”.
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Ms Evans’s partner at the time, and the defendant’s son, Jamie Davies, said in a victim personal statement, read on his behalf, that they had both “trusted” Jones, and that Ms Evans had even been planning the defendant’s 50th birthday.
“The thought of having to live my life without Sophie causes me extreme pain and heartache,” he added.
Prosecuting, Michael Jones KC said the offence was aggravated by the defendant’s previous convictions and the fact Ms Evans was murdered in her home.
In mitigation, David Elias KC said there was a “lack of premeditation”.
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