Starved, beaten murdered… failed – A probe is under way into how social workers failed to put a stop to the abuse of tragic Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, who was murdered by his stepmum
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Arthur Labinjo-Hughes’ step-mum lies about his death to police
A dad and his girlfriend have been convicted of torturing and killing his six-year-old son.
A probe is under way into how social workers failed to put a stop to the abuse of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.
The cruelty included the lad being starved and repeatedly beaten.
The killers, Thomas Hughes, 29, and his girlfriend Emma Tustin, 32, were described in court as “ruthless and pitiless”.
Tustin’s audio and video recordings showed that Arthur was hit, bullied and punished from the moment he woke up.
A harrowing clip shows the lad telling the camera “nobody loves me” and “no one is going to feed me”.
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Arthur died after Tustin slammed his head against a wall in a fit of rage at their home.
She took a photo of him dying on the floor and sent it to his dad before waiting 12 minutes to call 999.
Arthur’s death came after relatives alerted the authorities four times about their concerns for his welfare.
Council social workers who visited his home two months before he was murdered found no issues and reported he lived in a “happy household”.
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He was allowed to stay there, and the abuse continued.
A relative sent West Midlands police photos of the lad’s bruises but officers closed the log because social services were already involved.
Arthur’s gran Madeleine Halcrow claimed: “He was let down by social services and the police.
“There was an opportunity to save him and it wasn’t taken.
“Social services…must have seen how poorly he was, how fatigued and weak he was. He died just eight weeks later.”
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After his death, Arthur was found to have 130 injuries to his head, face, neck, arms, torso and legs.
He also had historical injuries after being hit, slapped, kicked and punched “over and over”. Tustin was found guilty of murder. Hughes, who was not present at the time of the killing but sent a text message to Tustin the previous day telling her to “just end him”, was convicted of manslaughter.
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The pair were also found guilty at Coventry crown court of child cruelty. Hughes would “pressure-point” his son, repeatedly threatened him and told him: “I’ll bury you six feet under.”
The court heard that Hughes, who admitted he is a “monster”, “relished” inflicting punishment on his defenceless son for minor infractions.
Arthur was forced to spend up to 14 hours a day on his own in the hall and had to sleep on a cold floor.
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Footage showed him on the day of his death struggling to lift his blanket off the floor. Tustin force-fed Arthur salt-laced meals and made over 200 recordings of him crying for help.
The boy was living with his dad after his mum, Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow, was arrested for stabbing her boyfriend to death in 2019.
Labinjo-Halcrow, 29, was convicted of manslaughter in 2021 and is serving an 11-year jail term.
Arthur initially lived with Hughes at the home of the dad’s parents. But in March last year Hughes and Arthur began living with Tustin in the West Midlands borough of Solihull.
Solihull’s Local Safeguarding Children Partnership described the death as a “terrible tragedy” and is carrying out an independent review into the circumstances surrounding it.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct said it has probed the force’s handling of the complaint.
The IOPC is yet to publish the findings but said it “found no indication any individual behaved in a manner that justified disciplinary proceedings”.
Det Insp Laura Harrison said: “The lockdown meant professionals didn’t have the opportunity to monitor him in the same way they would do with children normally.” Tustin and Hughes will be sentenced today.
4 missed chances
1 . Arthur’s grandmother Joanne Hughes called social services on April 16 last year to report bruising on his body. Social workers visited his home the next day but said it was a “happy household”.
2. On April 20, Joanne told Arthur’s school about concerns. Social workers told a school safeguarding lead they had “no concerns”.
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3.Arthur’s uncle, Daniel Hughes sent photos of boy’s brusing to police. He claimed an officer promised to “get back to me” but did not.
4 Tustin’s stepdad John Dutton made an anonymous call to social services weeks before Arthur’s death to report concerns about abuse.
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