A serious case review into the murder of two children by their parents, who were in an incestuous relationship, has concluded there is no evidence that agencies and professionals could have predicted such events.
Sarah Barrass, 35, and her partner, Brandon Machin, 39, who is also her half-brother, were jailed for life last November with a minimum term of 35 years for the murders of Tristan and Blake Barrass, aged 13 and 14 respectively, at their home in the Shiregreen area of Sheffield in May 2019.
The pair had planned to kill their six children amid fears they would otherwise be taken into care.
On Friday, a serious case review published by the Sheffield Children Safeguarding Partnership concluded that practitioners had viewed Barrass “as a loving, caring and competent mother”.
“The deaths of these two children is a tragedy and there is no evidence from this review process that any of the practitioners and agencies involved with the family could have predicted the actions taken by their parents.
“This review has seen significant evidence of effective and caring practice with the children by all agencies involved with the family.”
During the trial last year, Sheffield crown court heard that Barrass and Machin had worked together to strangle the two teenagers before ensuring they were dead by placing bin bags over their heads.
The jury was also told that two of the other children they had planned to murder were under the age of three.
The family had contact with a number of safeguarding agencies, but the report said the professional view of Barrass was that she was a single mother who “supported and fought hard for her children’s access to appropriate support and help”.
It added that she had frequently referred herself to support services and the police.
When Barrass and Machin were sentenced, the court heard that a day before they murdered Tristan and Blake, they had forced the teenagers and two of their other children to take tablets gathered from around the family home.
The court were told that the couple expected the mixture, which included prescribed ADHD medication, to kill all four of them. When the plan failed, they killed Tristan and Blake before attempting to drown another child in the bath.
Prosecutors said the outside view of the family before the deaths was “a household of a loving single mum with six children, heavily supported by her brother Brandon Machin”.
Professionals who worked with the family did not know Barrass and Machin were in a relationship and that he was the father of all six of her children because she told them that their father was not involved in raising them.
Their children also did not know that Machin was their father. During the trial, the court heard: “The children believed and even told officers at the scene that their father was dead, having died in the second world war.”
A judge was also told that Barrass had repeatedly made remarks to them, such as: “I gave you life, I can take it away.”
The review stated that Barrass and Machin were raised in different homes and were known to social services when they were children as a result of neglect.
