Michael Mullaney is a prisoner at HMP Frankland in County Durham, England.
He came into the spotlight not because of his own conviction but because he was the victim of a brutal assault by another inmate, Damien Bendall, a convicted murderer serving a whole-life sentence for killing his pregnant partner and three children in Killamarsh in 2021.
In May 2024, Mullaney was working in a prison workshop at the maximum security facility when Bendall struck him repeatedly with a claw hammer, hitting him at least four times, the first blow knocking him unconscious, before prison officers intervened.
When the officer drew his baton and activated an alarm, Bendall immediately stopped the assault.
Mr. Perks said Bendall threw the hammer to one side and raised his arms to show he had ceased the attack.
After being handcuffed, officers asked Bendall why he had attacked Mr Mullaney, with whom he had sometimes played dominoes. Bendall replied: “I don’t know.”
The severity of the attack was so serious that an officer initially feared Mullaney had been killed.
Mr Mullaney was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, where he spent four nights being treated for depressed skull fractures and bleeding on the brain.
The court was told the injuries were potentially fatal.
He sustained depressed skull fractures and bleeding on the brain, and spent four nights in the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle receiving treatment.
Mullaney later described the aftermath of the assault in a victim impact statement, saying the attack left him anxious, reluctant to leave his cell, and struggling to sleep.
Defending Bendall, Vanessa Marshall KC said the attack had been planned as a way to engineer a move to the segregation unit because Bendall believed his mental state was deteriorating.
She told the court that Bendall wished to apologise to Mr Mullaney, stating there was no contempt towards him and that the two men had been friends.
Sentencing Bendall, Judge Francis Laird KC imposed a life sentence with a minimum term of 15 years, although he noted Bendall would never be released in any event due to his existing whole-life order.
The judge said the attempted murder was aggravated because it occurred in prison and because of Bendall’s previous convictions for the most serious violent and sexual offences.
For the attempted murder of Mullaney, Damien Bendall has now been handed an additional life sentence.
Bendall is already serving a whole-life sentence for the murders of his pregnant partner, Terri Harris, 35, her children Lacey Bennett, 11, and John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, 11, who were killed at a property in Killamarsh, Derbyshire, in September 2021.
He used a claw hammer during those attacks and later admitted to raping Lacey as she was dying.
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