‘Lenient’ sentences of evil mum & partner who tortured & killed Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, 6, referred to Attorney General
THE “lenient” jail sentences handed to Arthur Labinjo-Hughes’ killers are being referred to Attorney General.
Emma Tustin, 32, was caged for life with a minimum of 29 years yesterday after being convicted of murdering her six-year-old stepson.
His “pitiless” dad Hughes was caged for 21 years after being found guilty of manslaughter.
Solihull MP Julian Knight confirmed he will refer the sentences on Monday morning to the Attorney General.
They will then be considered under the unduly lenient scheme and could be increased.
Mr Knight said: “There’s a palpable sense of real loss and tragedy over this and also, frankly, a sense of anger, and questions over how this was allowed to happen, how these monsters were allowed to inflict this horrible torture on this young, defenceless boy.
“My view is very simple on this. We need to get to the bottom of how this happened and we need to ensure that those who have failed him are accountable.
“But also I think anyone reflecting on those sentences yesterday thinks that they were too lenient and my intention is to refer this to the unduly lenient sentencing scheme as soon as possible and I will be doing that on Monday morning.”
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Hughes and Tustin waged a sick “campaign of cruelty” against Arthur in his tragic final months.
The youngster was segregated for 14 hours a day and forced to sleep on the floor in a brutal struggle that matched the “medical definition of child torture”.
He was also poisoned with so much salt he was too weak to even put up a fight against his torturers’ horrific abuse.
On June 16 last year, Tustin repeatedly smashed the youngster’s head against a hard surface causing him to collapse.
He died in hospital the next day from a “head trauma inflicted on him by an adult” consistent with being “vigorously shaken and his head banged repeatedly against a hard surface”.
Arthur’s frail and skeletal body was covered with 130 bruises and he suffered 93 different areas of injury – including on his head, arms, legs, feet and torso.
Even if just half of the 130 bruises on Arthur’s body were the result of abuse, it would still be a mark for every day he spent being “terrorised” during lockdown.
The injuries were so severe they were likened to those seen in a high-speed car crash.
Chillingly, Arthur’s final months on earth were captured in harrowing audio clips and recordings made by Tustin and Hughes.
Arthur could be heard wailing in one 23-second recording “no one loves me” and “no one is going to feed me”.
Video footage also showed Arthur hours before he died waking up on the living room floor.
The emaciated youngster was said to be so frail he could barely pick up his bedding.
‘DEHUMANISED’
In his closing speech, prosecutor Jonas Hankin QC said Tustin and Hughes carried out a “systematic course of conduct designed to terrorise, degrade, neglect and harm Arthur physically and psychologically”.
He added: “Together they denigrated and debased him, they dehumanised him.”
A serious case review has now been launched following the “terrible tragedy”, Solihull Council confirmed.
It can also be revealed Tustin was already known to children’s services over previous concerns of domestic violence.
And the mum had a police reprimand for battery when she was aged 14 as well as a caution for shoplifting when aged 16.
Boris Johnson’s spokesman said today: “The Prime Minister found the details of this case deeply disturbing. His thoughts are with those who loved Arthur.
“No child should ever suffer in the way that he did. And it’s clear there are questions that need to be answered to get to the bottom of how this happened.”
Tustin was also convicted of two counts of child cruelty, including salt-poisoning and withholding food and drink from Arthur.
Partway through the trial, she admitted two other cruelty counts – wilfully assaulting Arthur on three occasions and isolating him.
Hughes was also convicted of the cruelty offences which Tustin had admitted – but was cleared of withholding food and drink, or of poisoning his own son with salt.
Arthur pictured smiling before the horrific abuse[/caption] He tragically died on June 17 last year[/caption] The youngster pictured with his birth mum Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow[/caption]