Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, 6, was killed by evil stepmother Emma Tustin, 32, and “pitiless” father Thomas Hughes, 29 – both of whom subjected him to months of torturous abuse

Arthur Labinjo-Hughes’ killer aborted a baby in jail and and tried to kill herself to avoid jail, a court heard.

The six-year-old was killed by evil stepmother Emma Tustin, 32, and “pitiless” father Thomas Hughes, 29 – both of whom subjected him to months of torturous abuse.

On Friday, Tustin was jailed for life with a minimum of 29 years after being found guilty of murder and Hughes, guilty of manslaughter, jailed for 21 years.

Twisted Tustin was pregnant with Hughes’ baby when she violently attacked Arthur in June 2020, before undergoing an abortion at 21 weeks.

During the trial at Coventry Crown Court, it has been revealed Tustin tried to avoid justice for her sickening attack on the little boy by taking an overdose and trying to hang herself.

Mary Prior QC described her as a “high suicide risk”, saying that she had been “obliged to terminate a pregnancy “.

Today, cowardly Tustin refused to leave her jail cell to take to the dock for sentencing.

Horrifying details in court described how Arthur was segregated for 14 hours a day and forced to sleep on the floor or in the hallway.

Tragic footage also showed Arthur attempting to put away his own duvet in the dark after waking up on the floor.

Other sickening evidence described how he was weakened by salt poisoned and deprived of food and water.

He was found to have 130 injuries all over his body after being hit, slapped, kicked, punched, and beaten.

Sentencing Tustin to 29 years, Judge Wall told her that is not the time she will spend in custody, but the minimum term before her case is even considered by a parole board.

He says if they do not decide to release her, she will spend the rest of her life in prison.

He passes concurrent sentences of 10 years – the maximum – on each child cruelty offence.

Hughes, a dad who assaulted and actively encouraged violence against his son, was jailed for 21 years.

He received nine-year concurrent terms for the child cruelty offences. Arthur, the son of Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow, had been placed in his dad’s custody after his maternal mother was jailed for 11 years for stabbing her on and off partner to death.

He suffered months of abuse as the first UK lockdown forced Hughes, Tustin and Arthur to confine in her Solihull home, alongside her two children.

On the day Arthur’s fatal injuries were inflicted, Arthur was shown to be fragile and weakened by the abuse in a heart-breaking clip, with him barely able to pick his blanket up off the living room floor.

That afternoon, Tustin brutally shook his head back and forth and slammed it off either the walls, floor or both.

Arthur was rushed to Birmingham Children’s Hospital but the damage to his brain was irreversible and he died in intensive care at 1am on June 17.

Since the tragedy emerged, heartbroken people across the city have shared tributes and made gestures of love towards the boy who cried ‘no one loves me’ and ‘no one’s going to feed me’ amid the abuse.

Birmingham city and Aston Villa football fans have come together with a touching applause to be held at Sunday’s match, a doorstep vigil is set for 7pm on December 17.

The garden of the house where he was fatally injured was also ‘filled with love’ as balloons and a tribute reading ‘you are loved Arthur’.

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