Mother admits murdering two teenage sons and trying to kill her other four children

‘No words of mine can ever fully reflect the enormity of what you have both done,’ says judge

Sarah Barrass, 35, has admitted murdering two of her children, Tristan and Blake Barrass, aged 13 and 14, at a house in Sheffield in May this year and conspiring to kill four more. Brandon Machin, 39, admitted the same charges (South Yorkshire Police/PA)

A mother sobbed in court as she admitted murdering her two teenage sons and conspiring to kill four more.

Sarah Barrass, 35, has been told she faces several life sentences after pleading guilty to murdering Tristan and Blake Barrass, aged 13 and 14.

Barrass also admitted conspiracy to murder six of her children, including Tristan and Blake, and five counts of attempted murder at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday.

The attempted murder charges relate to four of her children, including Tristan and Blake.

Family member Brandon Machin, 39, also admitted the same charges.

Judge Jeremy Richardson QC told them: “No words of mine can ever fully reflect the enormity of what you have both done.

“The crimes you have committed quite frankly speak for themselves. The murder of two children.

“The attempted murder of four children and the over-arching conspiracy to murder those children.

Motorbikes escort the funeral cortege arriving at Grenoside Crematorium, Sheffield, prior to the funeral of Tristan and Blake Barrass, 8 August, 2019. (Danny Lawson/PA)

“I repeat, those crimes speak for themselves. I have little doubt that each of you will in due course be sentenced to several terms of life imprisonment.

“This may well be a case, but it’s a matter for the judge, where a whole life order is imposed.”

No details were given in court about what happened to the children inside the house in the Shiregreen area of Sheffield on 24 May and 25 May this year.

South Yorkshire Police has never released the cause of the two boys’ death and it was not given when an inquest was opened earlier this year.

The court heard that all of the surviving children are under the age of 13.

According to the charges, the conspiracy to murder the six children took place between 14 May and 20 May and the murders took place on 24 May.

The attempted murders of Tristan, Blake and two other children, who cannot be named, took place the day before, on 23 May.

The pair also attempted to murder one of these children again on 24 May.

Both Barrass, of Gregg House Road, Sheffield, and Machin, of Burngreave Road, Sheffield, were remanded in custody. They will both be sentenced on 12 November.

Police were called to the semi-detached property on Gregg House Road on the morning of 24 May after paramedics, including an air ambulance, were called to the street.

Officers said a “major incident” had happened in the house but have never indicated what they believe happened.

Hundreds of mourners attended Tristan’s and Blake’s funeral last month.

The boys were taken into the chapel at Grenoside Crematorium, Sheffield, in one white coffin accompanied by an honour guard of 300 motorcycles and two Lamborghini cars.

The riders answered an appeal after it emerged the teenagers both loved bikes and cars.

Press Association contributed to this report.