Mother admits murder of two of her children and trying to kill four others
27 September 2019, 14:36
A mother is facing spending the rest of her life in jail after she admitted murdering two of her children as well as conspiring to murder four more.
Sarah Barrass, 34, sobbed at Sheffield Crown Court as she pleaded guilty to murdering Tristan and Blake Barrass, aged 13 and 14 respectively.
Barrass also admitted conspiracy to murder six of her children, including Tristan and Blake, and five counts of attempted murder.
The attempted murder charges relate to four of her children, including Tristan and Blake.
Family member Brandon Machin, 37, 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.
"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."
They will both be sentenced on November 12.
Barrass wore a black off-the-shoulder dress with pink flowers as she cried throughout the 20-minute hearing.
She was separated from Machin, who showed no emotion, by three security guards.
No details were given in court about what happened to the children inside the house in the Shiregreen area of Sheffield on May 24 and May 25 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.
Reporting by PA
