Arthur’s death: Stepmother jailed for life, father 21 years imprisonment
Emma Tustin, 32, Arthur’s step mother cowered in her court cell rather than come and face the judge to be sentenced for murder
She and Arthur’s father, 29-year-old Thomas Hughes, tortured youngster under the cover of the lockdown
Today Arthur’s biological mother, Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow, 29, spoke of the shattering pain of losing her son
Said she is ‘heartbroken’ at the thought of his body being stored alone in a cold box’ due to row over funeral
Boris Johnson said ‘questions’ had to be learnt over tragedy after officials missed raft of chances to save him
The authorities stand accused of failing Arthur at every stage of his life despite him being on the social services’ radar for three years. The youngster was handed into the custody of his father when his real mother was convicted of stabbing her lover – a decision that would have been made by a family court.
With seemingly little oversight from social services, he then moved him into the house of a woman he had just met despite her previously having two children taken away from her. In the months of lockdown while Arthur was being abused, social workers and police missed a raft of opportunities to save him, brushed away pleas from his family and even threatened them with arrest under Covid rules.
The authorities in Solihull failed to save once ‘chubby, happy’ Arthur from a relentless campaign of both physical and mental torture, including being poisoned with salt by Tustin, while Hughes inflicted ‘pressure point’ torture techniques as they made him stand on his own for up to 14 hours a day.
After concerned relatives told the council about bruises on the youngster’s back, social worker Jayne Kavanagh and support worker Angela Scarlett-Coppage visited Tustin’s home but reported ‘no concerns’ after carrying out cursory checks. Tustin and Hughes had ‘coached’ Arthur and one of Tustin’s other children to pretend his injuries were the result of a play-fight.
A day before Arthur died of ‘unsurvivable’ head injuries inflicted by Tustin, he had been rendered ‘too weak’ even to hold a glass of water to his mouth. The 130 areas of bruising found on the little boy’s body after his death equated to ‘nearly a bruise for every day of lockdown’.
A monster stepmother was jailed for life for torturing, starving and beating a defenseless six-year-old to death before mocking him as he begged for help and lay dying – as the pitiless father who forced him to live in hell was handed 21 years.
Cowardly Emma Tustin refused to come into the dock to face justice for murdering terrified and helpless Arthur Labinjo-Hughes by savagely shaking his head and slamming it against the walls, floor or both.
Hours earlier she had attempted to kill by forcing him to drink a lethal ‘salt slurry’ but when that failed, she left him with injuries ‘equivalent to a high-speed crash’.
It followed months of ‘unimaginable suffering’ at the hands of the sadistic woman, and the boy’s father, Thomas Hughes.
Judge Mr Justice Mark Wall QC told Tustin the minimum term before her case is considered by a parole board is 29 years. If they do not decide to release her, she will spend the rest of her life in prison.
Hughes will serve two thirds of his term in custody before being released.
Tustin and Hughes starved the youngster, force-fed him salt-laden dishes and made him to stand alone for more than 14 hours a day, in a degrading, punishing and hellish regime over the last painful months of his life.
Throughout the trial Tustin showed no remorse and Arthur’s grandmother noted: ‘The only pity she has shown is for herself.’
The judge told Tustin, who has four children – two of whom were taken into care: ‘You are a manipulative woman who will tell any lie and shift blame onto anyone to save her own skin.
‘You wanted Thomas Hughes so he could provide for you and your own children, but did not want to be troubled by Arthur any longer.’
Mr Wall said Tustin’s own children, ‘lived a perfectly happy normal life in that household while this appalling cruelty to Arthur was taking place.
‘The less human he seemed to be, the more freedom you had to abuse him.’
The judge called Hughes’ ‘encouragement’ of his girlfriend’s actions ‘chilling’, adding: ‘You were Arthur’s father, in a position of trust and bore primary responsibility for protecting him. He was extremely vulnerable and you lied to his school in the last days of Arthur’s life to protect both you and Ms Tustin.’
They lied to his school and when it reopened on June 8 after lockdown, Arthur never returned.
Mr Wall said he had ‘no doubt’ Arthur was ‘regularly beaten’ by the pair’, with Hughes deliberately researching ‘pressure points’ to inflict ‘maximum pain with minimum injury.’
He described the child as ’emaciated’, with his ribs showing through his skin.
According to Dailymail, Arthur’s biological mother, Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow, 29, spoke of her torment at his death. Her statement was delivered by her mother, Madeleine Halcrow, who regularly paused after bursting into tears.
‘He was just a child, he had no-one to talk to, no one to ask for help when he was scared and needed protecting the most,’ said Ms Labinjo-Halcrow, who is serving 11 years in prison for killing her partner.
‘My son’s bright blue, effervescent eyes lost their sparkle and they weren’t smiling anymore. They took his sparkle and his naivety from him and then they took him from this world.
‘A child, my child, my little love defenceless, trusting and nothing but loving was killed. His short life was stolen – he will never see another Christmas, another birthday.’
