Arthur Labinjo-Hughes: stepmother murderer jailed for life with dad jailed for 21 years

Judge has handed out sentences for the murder of six year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes who was died after abuse and being fed salt at his home in Shirley, Solihull
Arthur Labinjo-HughesArthur Labinjo-Hughes
Arthur Labinjo-Hughes

Stepmother Emma Tustin has been jailed for life - with a minimum of 29 years - after she was found guilty of murdering six year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.

Arthur was just six years-old when he died from a severe blow to his head.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

His fater, Thomas Hughes has been jailed for 21 years after being convicted of his son’s manslaughter.

Arthur’s died 17 June last year, following a campaign of cruelty inflicted by both Tustin and Hughes.

The youngster was forced to stand for hours on end and suffered repeated assaults.

What happened at court before sentencing?

Coventry Crown Court was shown footage of Arthur spending hours at a time forcibly standing in isolation.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He would be punished for unauthorised movement including attempts to sit down, to ease his discomfort.

The court also heard many examples of audio recordings where Arthur was being sworn at, insulted, and subjected to threats of violence.

Investigating officers at West Midlands Police said they found no evidence of a space in the house in Cranmore Road that Arthur could have called his own.

Officers said they found his duvet shoved in a cupboard under the stairs, because he was made to sleep on the floor in the living room each night.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Tustin alone had more than 200 audio recordings of Arthur on her phone. In many he can be heard asking to go and see other members of his family. In others he can be heard begging for help; saying that he’s not being fed and he needs food and a drink.

After Arthur’s death police said that a neighbour told them that she’d heard Tustin shouting ‘face the wall’. On another occasion Hughes told her that if she heard someone saying ‘don’t kill me’ she should ignore it, assuring her that he wasn’t hurting Arthur.

Police said that they took evidence from another witness who commented that when she’d seen Arthur in February he’d seemed healthy, but by June he appeared physically weak, struggling to stand and he had difficulty in climbing stairs.

Officers said that they also found a string of furious text messages between Tustin and Hughes on the day before Arthur was fatally injured. Then evidence of a short phone call, before another text from Hughes to Tustin’s saying: "Just end him".

Emma Tustins murdered Arthur Labinjo-HughesEmma Tustins murdered Arthur Labinjo-Hughes
Emma Tustins murdered Arthur Labinjo-Hughes

Why did Arthur’s dad and step mum abuse him?

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Det Insp Harrison said: “It’s not clear why Tustin and Hughes started to make Arthur’s place in his family home so truly awful and why they caused him such harm and suffering – but that harm and suffering was sustained and escalated over time.

“Nor is it clear why the couple installed a CCTV camera in their own living room, but sadly that footage has proved invaluable in demonstrating some of the hardships, emotional abuse and physical violence Arthur endured behind closed doors.”

What happened on the day that Arthur died?

On the day Arthur was fatally injured Hughes had left the house at just after 1pm, leaving his son alone with Tustin. So it is only she who will ever know exactly how Arthur suffered the blow that killed him.

Police said that they used CCTV, as well as the calls and messages the couple exchanged, to provide the court with a compelling case that she had inflicted that injury and then failed to call an ambulance for 12 minutes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

During those 12 minutes, Tustin is seen to carry Arthur into the living room, into the kitchen and back into the living room, before propping him up on the sofa

Hughes then arrives back home, and the pair try to give Arthur a drink and some children’s paracetamol medicine, before 999 is finally called.

Det Insp Harrison said: “We believe that both Tustin and then Hughes, understood how seriously Arthur was injured. Only the pair of them can explain why it took so long for an ambulance to be called, but we’d suggest it was the final act of cruelty they inflicted on Arthur.”

Arthur Labinjo-Hughes’ dad Thomas HughesArthur Labinjo-Hughes’ dad Thomas Hughes
Arthur Labinjo-Hughes’ dad Thomas Hughes

What did the medical evidence show?

Hospital tests revealed Arthur had abnormally high salt-levels and he was seen to have bruising in many areas uncommon for accidental bruising in a child.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A post mortem later revealed that Arthur had over 100 marks and bruises on his head, body and limbs including bruising of different ages.

A number of medical experts told the court that they did not believe the injuries Arthur had could have been self-inflicted; that a child of six simply could not have generated enough force to have caused the fatal injury to his own head.

A specialist kidney consultant, said that for Arthur to have had such high levels of salt in his system could only be explained by one of two situations.

Either Arthur had ingested at least six and half tablespoons of salt on the day he was fatally injured; and the expert couldn’t see how a child would have done this, other than if he was deliberately force-fed a mix of salt and water by an adult.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Or that Arthur had repeatedly been poisoned with heavily contaminated food and/or water over a longer period of time.

What have West Midlands Police said about the death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes?

A police spokesperson said: “On 16 June 2020, officers were called to Tustin’s home in Cranmore Road, Shirley, where Arthur was unconscious on the floor.

“Paramedics tended to him, having arrived to find a neighbour performing CPR on the six-year-old.

“Arthur had bruising to his head and body, appeared under-weight and his gums were bleeding.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“He was taken to hospital but sadly despite the best efforts of medical staff he died at 1am the following morning.

“The accounts given by Hughes and his partner Tustin, differed but revolved around Arthur’s behaviour being poor and him banging his own head off the floor.

“But due to the nature of Arthur’s injuries and the accounts given by Tustin and Hughes, they were arrested on suspicion of murder.

“We were able to painstakingly piece together what had happened with investigators trawling through hours of CCTV from inside the home in Cranmore Road.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We also studied hundreds of videos, audio files and photos found on Tustin’s and Hughes’ mobile phones, and analysed thousands of messages they sent each other.

“And the compelling evidence they revealed clearly illustrated the systematic cruelty inflicted on Arthur by both Tustin and Hughes.

“We worked painstakingly with medical experts from various areas of clinical medicine and pathology to show that the six-year-old’s death had been caused by a head trauma inflicted on him by an adult.

“And that the most likely way that happened was by him being vigorously shaken and his head banged repeatedly against a hard surface.”

Arthur Labinjo-HughesArthur Labinjo-Hughes
Arthur Labinjo-Hughes

What has the Senior Investigating Officer said about the case?

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Senior Investigating Officer Detective Inspector Laura Harrison, said: “This has been a truly heartbreaking case and has deeply affected everyone who has been involved in it.

“An innocent boy was subjected to a campaign of cruelty by the very people who were meant to be loving and protecting him.

“Despite the lies they told, we carefully built a case against the two of them. We were able to seize their phones and found the messages they exchanged which showed their anger towards Arthur.

“As part of our investigations we were able to access their home where we found a CCTV camera set up in their living room. And the footage from that helped us build up a picture of the grim reality of Arthur’s life inside that house.”

A final update on the court case

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The jury at Coventry Crown Court found Emma Tustin, aged 32, of Cranmore Road, Solihull guilty of the murder of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Thomas Hughes aged 29, of Stroud Road, Solihull, guilty of manslaughter.

The couple also faced four charges of cruelty to a child.

On the opening day of the trial on 5 October Tustin pleaded guilty to one of those charges – wilfully ill-treating Arthur on multiple occasions by forced standing, isolation and intimidation.

In the final days of the trial Tustin admitted a second charge of child cruelty, namely assaulting Arthur on multiple occasions.

She was convicted of two further charges of cruelty by withholding food and drink and by administering salt on Thursday (December 2).

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Hughes was also convicted on two counts of cruelty, by forced standing, isolation and intimidation, and also by assaulting Arthur. Hughes was cleared of murder, cruelty by withholding food and drink and by administering salt.

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. BirminghamWorld is Birmingham’s latest news website, championing everything that is great about our city - reporting on news, lifestyle and sport. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going.

Related topics: