At around 07:30 BST on 24 May 2019, police officers were called to a residential property on Gregg House Road in

Shiregreen Shiregreen and Brightside ward—which includes the districts of Brightside, Shiregreen, and Wincobank—is one of the 28 electoral wards in City of Sheffield, England. It is located in the northern part of the city and covers an area ...

, a northern suburb of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

, following reports concerning the welfare of children. Six children were found unconscious inside the property; they were treated at the

Sheffield Children's Hospital The Sheffield Children's Hospital is a healthcare facility for children in Broomhill, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is managed by the Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital first opened on 15 November 1876 ...

, where the two oldest children later died. Two people, Brandon Machin, a 38- or 39-year-old man and Sarah Barrass, the 34-year-old mother of the children, were arrested at the property on suspicion of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

Incident

Police officers from the

South Yorkshire Police South Yorkshire Police (SYP) is the territorial police force responsible for policing South Yorkshire in England. The force is led by Chief Constable Lauren Poultney. Oversight is conducted by Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Billings. T ...

attended a residential property on Gregg House Road, close to Hartley Brook Primary Academy in the Shiregreen district of northern Sheffield, at around 07:30 local time on the morning of 24 May 2019. The police had received reports of concerns for the safety of a number of children inside the property from neighbours, and initiated a large scale response to the incident. Fifteen police cars arrived to raid the property, during which the police located six children—aged 7 months and 3, 10, 11, 13 and 14 years—unconscious inside the property. Officers arrested two people, a 37-year-old man and a 34-year-old woman, on suspicion of murder. The area surrounding Gregg House Road was placed under lockdown, including Hartley Brook Primary Academy, whose playground was used for the landing of the

Yorkshire Air Ambulance Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) is a dedicated helicopter emergency air ambulance for the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It was established in October 2000, and currently operates two Airbus H145 aircraft. It is an independent char ...

at the scene after the police raid. Four road ambulances also attended the scene; all six children were transported to the Sheffield Children's Hospital for treatment. The eldest two children, aged 13 and 14, subsequently died in hospital. The four remaining children were reported to be conscious and in a non-life threatening condition, although they will remain hospitalised for "certainly the next few hours". Police later narrowed down the cordon to the affected street and confirmed they were not looking for other suspects in connection with the "isolated" incident, with no wider risk to the community.

Response

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, there was widespread speculation on social media, before information began to emerge. Particularly, there were reports that a

mass shooting There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 200 ...

had occurred in Shiregreen: Hartley Brook Primary Academy was implicated in some such reports, as the school was located within the lockdown cordon and was used as a landing site for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. A press release by South Yorkshire Police later ruled out a shooting, confirming that no shots had been fired and there had not been an incident at the school. The children who died were students at

Firth Park Academy Firth Park Academy is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, located in the Shiregreen area of Sheffield, England. It is partnered with Longley Park Sixth Form, HBH Academy Trust, Beck Primary School, Hucklow Primary School a ...

. The school issued a statement following the confirmation of fatalities, saying that the incident came as "a huge shock to everyone". The Academy subsequently offered support for students and staff affected by the incident.

Gill Furniss Gillian Furniss (born 14 March 1957) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough since 2016. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Shadow Minister for Roads since 2022. Early lif ...

, the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Member of Parliament for

Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Gill Furniss, a member of the Labour Party. History Following its review of parliamentary representation in South Yorkshire ...

constituency within which the incident occurred, said in a statement that she was "deeply saddened by the tragic incident", describing Shiregreen as a "strong community" and thanking the emergency services for their efforts.

Investigation

A murder investigation was launched shortly after the initial police raid concluded, with forensic examination of the property and surrounding area taking place. Two people were arrested and then charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder. The property at which the incident occurred is a semi-detached

council house A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 ...

, common to most of the Shiregreen estate. The garden was described as "unkempt". On 27 September 2019, Sarah Barrass, 35, and Brandon Machin, 39, both pleaded guilty to the two murders, to conspiracy to murder all six children and five counts of attempted murder. Sentencing was set for 12 November. Barrass pleaded guilty to five counts of attempted murder against her four surviving children. The anomaly was due to the first attempts being on 23 May, and a further attempt against one child on 24 May.

Sentencing

At the sentencing hearing on 12 November, further information was revealed. This information had previously been subject to a reporting ban, lifted at the sentencing hearing. Barrass and Machin were half-brother and sister and had been in an incestuous relationship for some time, Machin spending days at the house but maintaining his own home in

Burngreave Burngreave is an inner city district of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England lying north of the city centre. The population of the ward taken at the 2011 census was 27,481. It started to develop in the second half of the 19th century. Prior t ...

, a few miles away. A note by Barrass made on her phone at the time of the crimes said "Brandon is the dad to all the kids...". The children had previously believed that their father was dead. In November 2018, an allegation of sexual assault towards another child had been made about Blake, the 14 year old victim, and social services became involved. He had also been diagnosed with

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inapp ...

two years earlier. A similar allegation was later made about Tristan, the 13 year old victim, in May, shortly before the deaths. Messages from Barrass were shown which indicated her concern at the children being taken into care as a result, "I love my kids too much to kill ‘em, I can’t put ‘em into care for the same reasons." A social services meeting on May 22, from which Barrass was excluded, seems to have been a crisis point. After this she was told that the children's status was raised from 'child in need' to the more actively involved 'child in protection'. Social services were also unaware of the children's father and made enquiries as to this, and the usual screening for any possibility of sexual abuse within the home. The final trigger may have been a phone call to Barrass on the evening of 23 May, when an unnamed local individual complained of a further sexual assault by Tristan against a child, and that they would be reporting the matter to social services. On arrest, Barrass made the statements to police that she would, "rather see them er childrendead than in care," and "I gave them life and I can take it away". As usual after a case involving such deaths, social services performed a

Serious Case Review A serious case review (SCR) in England is held after a child or vulnerable adult dies or is seriously injured under circumstances where abuse or neglect are thought to have been involved. Its purpose is to learn lessons to help prevent future simi ...

. The review report was published in August 2020, and found that the murders could not have been predicted.

Murders

Barrass and Machin acted jointly, first to poison the four oldest children using prescribed ADHD medication. When this was ineffective, they proceeded to strangle the two older boys, Barrass using a dressing gown cord to strangle Tristan and Machin strangling Blake with his hands, both to unconsciousness and then suffocating them with plastic bags over their heads. They then made an unsuccessful attempt to drown another child in the bath. Barrass texted a friend just after 7am alleging that Machin was trying to kill her and admitting the deaths, "He's trying to kill us and Tristan and Blake are already dead.", and both of them then called the police.

Sentence

On 12 November 2019, both Barrass and Machin were sentenced to life for murder, with a minimum of 35 years in prison.

Memorial

The murders occurred at 92 Gregg House Road, an end terrace residential property owned by

Sanctuary Housing Sanctuary Housing is a large housing association based in Worcester, England. It is part of the Sanctuary Group, which also includes other businesses such as Sanctuary Care (running more than 100 care homes), Sanctuary Students (accommodation ...

. It remained unoccupied in the aftermath of the murders and the arrest and trial of Barrass and Machin. Following their sentencing, Sanctuary Housing applied for planning permission to demolish the house and construct a memorial on its site. The proposals gained the support of the surviving members of the Barrass family as well as the wider local community in

. Planning permission was granted for the project in July 2020. According to the planning application, the memorial will consist of a small greenspace on the former site of the house, with a memorial tree in the centre. The house was demolished on 17 February 2021.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{Cite news , title=Sarah Barrass and Brandon Machin jailed for murdering sons , date=12 November 2019 , newspaper=

BBC News Online BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. It is one of the most popular news websites, with 1.2 billion website visits in April 2021, as well as being used by 60% of the U ...

, author= , url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-50388496 , access-date=14 November 2019 {{Cite news , title=Shiregreen murders: Murder plot survivor 'fears becoming a killer' , date=12 November 2019 , newspaper=

, author= , url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50394907 , access-date=14 November 2019 {{Cite news , title=Sheffield mum posted sick 'murder boast' on Facebook before killing teenage sons , date=12 November 2019 , newspaper=

Sheffield Star ''The Star'', often known as the ''Sheffield Star'', is a daily newspaper published in Sheffield, England, from Monday to Saturday each week. Originally a broadsheet, the newspaper became a tabloid in 1993. ''The Star'', the weekly ''Sheffield ...

, author=Dan Windham , url=https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/crime/sheffield-mum-posted-sick-murder-boast-facebook-killing-teenage-sons-962770 , access-date=14 November 2019 {{Cite news , title=Social services were involved with the Barrass family for six months before the murders of tragic brothers Blake and Tristan , date=13 November 2019 , newspaper=

, author=Sarah Marshall , url=https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/crime/social-services-were-involved-barrass-family-six-months-murders-tragic-brothers-blake-and-tristan-996022 , access-date=14 November 2019 {{Cite news , title=Sarah Barrass attempted to blame half-brother Brandon Machin for the murders of their two sons in the hours following their deaths , date=14 November 2019 , newspaper=

, author=Sarah Marshall , url=https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/crime/sarah-barrass-attempted-blame-half-brother-brandon-machin-murders-their-two-sons-hours-following-their-deaths-996239 , access-date=14 November 2019 2019 in England 2019 murders in the United Kingdom 2019 crimes in the United Kingdom 2010s in Sheffield Crime in Sheffield Filicides in England May 2019 crimes in Europe May 2019 events in the United Kingdom