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Shiregreen murders: Sarah Barrass killed teenage sons
A mother-of-six murdered her two teenage sons the day after a bid to poison them failed. Sarah Barrass, along with family member Brandon Machin, strangled Tristan and Blake Barrass, aged 13 and 14, in Shiregreen, Sheffield, on 24 May. The court heard how Barrass, 35, would regularly tell her children: "I gave you life, I can take it away." Barrass and Machin, 39, were both sentenced to a minimum of 35 years in prison at Sheffield Crown Court. They have both previously admitted murder, conspiracy to murder all six of her children, including Blake and Tristan, and five counts of attempted murder. 'Nothing but evil' The court heard how Barrass strangled Tristan with her dressing gown cord, before Machin strangled Blake with his hands, before putting bin bags over their heads to make sure they were dead. The pair hatched the plot to kill all the children because Barrass feared they would be taken into care. They had unsuccessfully tried to poison the four eldest the night before, by collecting ADHD tablets prescribed to one of the children and forcing them to swallow them. Kama Melly QC, prosecuting, said: "None of the children wanted to take the tablets but were forced to do so. "The defendants expected the tablets to kill the children overnight." When the tablets had not had the effect Barrass wanted, she began to search online for other ways of killing her children, including suffocation, strangulation and drowning. She called Machin to the house and then the pair strangled the boys, placing bin bags over their heads "to ensure their certain death", Ms Melly said. The defendants then ran a bath and repeatedly tried to drown one of the younger children. But when that too failed, Barrass took the surviving children - who are all under the age of 13 - to the bedroom and phoned the police. The court heard Barrass had previously approached the local authority to ask for help with her children. Ms Melly said the mother sent a message to a friend which said: "I've thought of every possible solution to this mess. "I love my kids too much to kill them, I can't put them into care for the same reason." Bryan Cox QC, mitigating for Barrass, said her crimes were "evil and nothing but evil" but said she was "profoundly damaged by her childhood". He said: "The defendant was desperate to prevent her children being taken into care. "She couldn't cope with the prospect of them being removed." The court heard she told police she planned to kill the younger two children and herself, after the older four had died. |
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What a mess.
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How did society arrive here?
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Society has been here before.
Inadequate parent can't face losing children, and thinks children will be better off dead without him or her. Classic murder/suicide but at least this time she seems to have snapped out of it while there were still four children alive. Thank God for small mercies. |
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Ramruma I think the police stopped it.
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if this isn't a case worth a whole life tariff you have to wonder what depths of depravity you have to plumb to get one
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I worked for some people yesterday who are at the end of their tether with sibling foster kids. They've had them a long time but the eldest lad is approaching 16, has numerous behavioral labels and is capable of violence. He wants to go and live with his real parents when he is 18, but they have mental ages of 8 and 6.
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Social services ??
There was a serious case review announced back in May by Sheffield council |
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Such a pity someone did not foresee this...so the children could have been taken away for their own protection
Still everything is easy in hindsight.. There needs to be an enquiry to see if this could have been avoided. |
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Ramruma • November 12, 2019 3:16 PM GMT
Society has been here before. Inadequate parent can't face losing children, and thinks children will be better off dead without him or her. Classic murder/suicide but at least this time she seems to have snapped out of it while there were still four children alive. Thank God for small mercies. Actually that might be correct. What I heard at the time about bags on heads might be as the piece refers, to the ones who died. |
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If ever a life sentence actually means that they both die behind bars then this distressing case is it. Pure evil, absolutely sickening.
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Apparently, the couple were half-brother/sister - unbelievable!
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A couple in an incestuous relationship who murdered their two teenage sons and tried to kill their remaining four children have been jailed for life.
Sarah Barrass, 35, and her partner, Brandon Machin, 39, who is also her half-brother, planned to kill their six children amid fears they would be taken into care. They were both sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison with a minimum term of 35 years. Tristan and Blake Barrass, aged 13 and 14 respectively, died after being strangled by the pair at a property in the Shiregreen area of Sheffield on 24 May. The picture of the Sarah Barrass household prior to the events in 2019 was, to the outside world, a household of a loving single mum with six children, heavily supported by her brother Brandon Machin. “In fact, unbeknown to everyone but the defendants, Brandon Machin was in a sexual relationship with his half-sister Sarah Barrass, and he was the father of all six children. “The children believed and even told officers at the scene that their father was dead, having died in the second world war.” |
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After the murders and the attempted murder of the younger child who was placed in a bath, the mother took the surviving children, who are all under 13, to the bedroom and phoned the police.
Melly said: “Nothing could have prepared those two police constables for the scene they had found. “The officers found Sarah Barrass barricaded in a room with the four surviving children. She lied to the officers, telling them that her two other children were with neighbours. “However whilst she was saying this to police, one of the children motioned to the police officer that in fact the children were dead – he moved his hand across his throat. Sarah Barrass told the child to stop what he was doing and stated: ‘Stop, don’t say that.’” Despite vomiting and having hallucinations, the younger children survived the attempt to kill them and recovered in intensive care. The two youngest surviving children were under three. |
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In her defence, Bryan Cox QC admitted Barrass’s crimes were “nothing but evil”, but added that she was “profoundly damaged by her childhood”.
The court was told that Barrass had grown up in a home where she had suffered neglect and emotional, physical and sexual abuse, eventually being taken into care. |
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The Return of the rope is needed ,35 years caring for these two pieces of shyte ,Millions of pounds that could be spent elsewhere , perhaps towards a Proper social service system , because the one we have is clearly not working .
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“The children believed and even told officers at the scene that their father was dead, having died in the second world war.”
Sorry, I know laughing at any of this is inappropriate, but this did make me chortle. It's a deprived council estate, but I wouldn't have said it was the worst. |
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It`s rough Dusty, i lived there for 20 years.
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My father was off Butterthwaite, that was a long time ago now though.
Was it around there that somebody rammed a skip truck into somebody’s front room recently? |