Incestuous couple murdered their own children

Vixen

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In one of the most gruesome murder cases of recent times a couple from Sheffield, UK, have been found guilty of murdering their two eldest children, Tristan and Blake Barass. They have been given life of 35 years each.

Sarah Barass had six children with her half brother, Brandon Machin.

They planned to kill the children apparently for fear they were to be removed by social workers, as a dysfunctional family.


My question is, how could this have happened when a relative had warned police they were 'born killers', Sarah Barass had begged social services for help and social services themselves had put them on watch way back in the 90's as brother and sister, in I believe an illegal relationship in the UK.

Both Machin and Barass came from traumatic backgrounds.

So, how did they manage to get as far as they did, strangling and suffocating their two smiling popular older sons and attempting to drown one in the bath in the past. The other four children had been administered an overdose of hyperactivity suppressant drugs, but thankfully were rescued in time.

A court heard that, prior to the killings, Barrass and Machin had given their four eldest “terrified” children tablets used to treat ADHD against their will. When the tablets did not work, Barrass – who declared: “I gave them life. I can take it away” – searched online for other ways to kill her children, including suffocation, strangulation and drowning.

The court was told Barrass then strangled Tristan with her dressing gown cord and Machin then strangled Blake with his hands.

The pair also tried to kill one of the younger children by attempting to drown them in a bath.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...man-who-murdered-teenage-sons-jailed-for-life


Someone help me out. How can this have happened?
 
“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.’”
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The two older of the surviving children at least are going to need some serious help over the next several years.
 
I Am The Scum said:
I'm not really sure what this means. What are police supposed to do with this "information?"
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Her brother, Martyn, claims he witnessed the children being ill-treated and he rang social service three times.

Martyn, who lives in Wirral, Merseyside, now says the deaths could have been prevented if social services had acted on his warnings.

'EVIL SINCE BIRTH'
He told the Sunday Mirror: "Those two have been evil since birth. They are both as bad as each other, they are both murdering, evil psychopaths.

“I witnessed Brandon’s violence towards Blake years ago and I knew something wasn’t right. I visited them when Tristan was still in his pushchair and Blake was only a toddler – he must have been three or four.

"We were out walking when Brandon grabbed Blake’s arm really roughly and dragged him across the floor.

"It was enough to know something wasn’t right, so I called social services and asked them to look into it. If they had, the boys might still be here today.”

He says that he made three calls to social services in around 2009 or 2010 but says he felt as if he was “ignored”.
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I think when people witness small children being brutalised, their report should be investigated.
 
I realize "humanity", but the logic of killing your children because you're worried they'll be taken away from you since a trifle...off.
 
I Am The Scum said:
I'm not really sure what this means. What are police supposed to do with this "information?"
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Better question. Where did that notion come from? It does not appear in the linked article. How does OP know what or even if any relative told police about anything?

I cross checked the corresponding daily fail and torygraph articles and they don't have it either. Where OP is getting that factoid from is a mystery.

Of course, your point still stands. Even if true there is nothing the police can legally do absent some crime.
 
Shadowdweller said:
I realize "humanity", but the logic of killing your children because you're worried they'll be taken away from you since a trifle...off.
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Perhaps even more improbable is that they spun the six kids, the oldest of whom was fourteen (Tristan), a tale that their 'real father' had 'died in WWII'.

Do the math.
 
abaddon said:
Better question. Where did that notion come from? It does not appear in the linked article. How does OP know what or even if any relative told police about anything?

I cross checked the corresponding daily fail and torygraph articles and they don't have it either. Where OP is getting that factoid from is a mystery.

Of course, your point still stands. Even if true there is nothing the police can legally do absent some crime.
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No mystery to me.

https://extra.ie/2019/11/04/news/world-news/mum-murdered-sons-sarah-barrass


...her brother Martyn Barrass has said he warned social services around ten years ago that the boys were at risk.​

He may not have told the police, be he claims to have warned social services multiple times.
 
abaddon said:
Even if true there is nothing the police can legally do absent some crime.
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Social Services (or its equivalent in other nations) has broad authority to investigate allegations and ask courts to issue orders protecting children. The bar for such evidence is much lower than that of a crime.

As to how this eluded authorities, I have no knowledge of the facts that would lead me to any conclusion.
 
Loss Leader said:
Social Services (or its equivalent in other nations) has broad authority to investigate allegations and ask courts to issue orders protecting children. The bar for such evidence is much lower than that of a crime.
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Sure, I fully understand that. Nevertheless, the OP claim was that the brother reported it to the police. I can find no reference for that claim made in the OP.

Indeed the brother claims that he complained or raised concerns three times in 2009/2010 to social services, not the police. If he had complained to the police, then they could do nothing about it anyway beyond handing it on to social services themselves, and he never claimed to have done so anyway.


Loss Leader said:
As to how this eluded authorities, I have no knowledge of the facts that would lead me to any conclusion.
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Absolutely. Nevertheless, one can at least put oneself in the position of social services. They would have had a caller making allegations of fact about potential future events. The accusee was already at that point interacting with social services already anyway. What exactly are they supposed to do at that point? Interact more vigourously? Blindly accept any call as factually correct?

This couple were actively concealing the fact that all six children were their own progeny, and actively portraying the image of a single mother of six doing her best with the support of her loyal brother. Social Services are required to live up to standards. Mind reading is not one of those standards. Prosecution of thought crime is not one of those standards.

One cannot a priori lock someone up for something that they might do at some future point. And it is ridiculous to hurl accusations that it should have been done given current information. Nobody has a magic crystal ball.
 
Vixen said:
Perhaps even more improbable is that they spun the six kids, the oldest of whom was fourteen (Tristan), a tale that their 'real father' had 'died in WWII'.

Do the math.
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And that is another oddity. My youngest is 14. There is no way in hell I could get away with spinning an unlikely tale like that.
 
I heard the Hallmark Channel was taking a new direction with Xmas movies now that Aunt Becky's criming all the time, but I hadn't realized they were going to get this interesting.
 
Shadowdweller said:
I realize "humanity", but the logic of killing your children because you're worried they'll be taken away from you since a trifle...off.
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It makes sense if one considers the children as possessions and has the attitude of "if I can't have them, nobody can".
 
Seismosaurus said:
It makes sense if one considers the children as possessions and has the attitude of "if I can't have them, nobody can".
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Could also be a misguided attempt to save their souls. I don't have enough info to say. Same with how did the authorities not act to stop them.

Its possible that the brother didn't actually make the reports he claims*, its possible he did but the bureacrats dropped the ball, its possible they were investigated and they managed to hide their crazy long enough to fool the social workers. I just don't know.

*There is likely a lot of guilt that would influence him to misremember, it is absolutely possible that he honestly believes he made reports when all he really did was think about making such reports.
 
abaddon said:
The accusee was already at that point interacting with social services already anyway. What exactly are they supposed to do at that point? Interact more vigourously? Blindly accept any call as factually correct?

This couple were actively concealing the fact that all six children were their own progeny, and actively portraying the image of a single mother of six doing her best with the support of her loyal brother. Social Services are required to live up to standards. Mind reading is not one of those standards.
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Clearly, your knowledge of the circumstances overshadows mine. Thank you for the information.
 
Loss Leader said:
Clearly, your knowledge of the circumstances overshadows mine. Thank you for the information.
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Was that sarcasm? Nothing I posted is in any way controversial. Were the couple engaged in an illicit incestuous relationship? Yes. Had the couple produced six children? Yes. Did the couple conceal the nature of that family unit? Yes. Did the couple portray the role of the tragic single mother of six supported by a devoted brother? Yes. Did the couple conspire to kill all six children? Yes. Did the couple succeed in the case of the two eldest? Yes. Did the wife attempt to drown the next eldest? Yes. Did that child survive? Yes, by fighting back.

None of this is disputed.
 
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