A father and his partner have been found guilty of killing six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, who was subjected to months of horrific abuse before dying of a head injury in Solihull in June 2020. At Coventry Crown Court, Emma Tustin was convicted of murder, while Thomas Hughes was found guilty of manslaughter.
The court heard that Tustin shook Arthur and banged his head on a hard surface after poisoning him with salt. The boy was force-fed salt-laced meals, kept isolated, starved, dehydrated, and routinely beaten. He was forced to stand like a statue for hours and had his Birmingham City shirts cut up as punishment.
Jurors listened to audio clips in which Arthur cried, 'No-one loves me' and 'No-one's gonna feed me'. They also saw CCTV from the morning before his death, where he appeared to limp and struggle to fold a duvet. Arthur was 'scarcely able to articulate his words' and could not support his own weight by the time of his murder.
Prosecutors argued that Hughes encouraged violence against his son, sending messages such as 'just end him'. Arthur had told others his 'dad was going to kill him' and once said to his father, 'I am in danger with you, dad'. Tustin took a photo of Arthur as he lay dying and waited 12 minutes before calling 999, lying about how he was injured.
The jury, who took six hours and 15 minutes to reach their verdicts, asked to hold a minute's silence for Arthur and were excused from jury service for life. A serious case review into the involvement of agencies is expected next year.
