A woman and her half-brother who plotted to kill their children were sentenced to life imprisonment.

35-year-old Sarah Barass and her half-brother 39-year-old Brandon Machin were sentenced to a life sentence with a minimum of 35 years in prison for the deaths of their two teenaged sons Tristan and Blake, aged 13 and 14 respectively.

A man walks near paintings to represent street children, who were murdered at the site on July 23, 1993, at Candelaria cathedral in Rio de Janeiro
A man walks near paintings to represent street children, who were murdered at the site on July 23, 1993, at Candelaria cathedral in Rio de Janeiro Reuters

Barrass told the court that she strangled Tristan with her dressing gown cord while her partner and half-brother strangled Blake with his hands at a property in Shiregreen, Sheffield last May 24.

Barass was reported to have said: “I gave them life, I can take it away.”

Prior to the murders, Barrass and Machin forced their four eldest children to take ADHD medication tablets in the hopes that the children would die from side effects and overdose.

According to The Guardian, Barrass searched the internet for other ways to kill her children, including suffocation, strangulation and drowning.

The couple also tried to kill one of the younger children by drowning them in the bath. According to Sky News, the prosecutor said that Barrass was worried that the children might be taken into care and their incestuous parentage would be discovered.

According to prosecutor Kama Melly, the six children lived alone with their mother, Barrass and it showed a picture of a single mother and her six children with her half-brother, Machin heavily supporting them.

“In fact, unbeknownst to everyone but the defendants, Brandon Machin was in a sexual relationship with his half-sister Sarah Barrass, and he was the father of all six children.”

In May 23, right after she and Machin divided the ADHD tablets among their children, Barrass sent messages and made “light-hearted” posts on social media saying that her children caught the sickness bug.

After the two murders and the attempted one, Barrass took her four surviving children, all under 13, to the bedroom and called the police.

Barrass attempted to lie to the police regarding the whereabouts of Tristan and Blake but one of the surviving victims motioned to the officers that their brothers are dead.

Despite suffering the side effects of consuming the ADHD medications, the four younger children survived and recovered in intensive care.

“I’ve thought of every possible solution to this mess: mass murder, putting them all in care, checking into the local nut house,” Barrass was said to have texted a friend. “I love my kids too much to kill them. I can’t put them into care for the same reason.”

Bryan Cox QC, Barrass’ defense said that although her crimes were “nothing but evil”, they are justified by the fact that she was “profoundly damaged by her childhood”.