A BOY of six was tortured and beaten to death by his cruel dad and stepmum in a horrific echo of the Baby P case.
Arthur Labinjo-Hughes was also poisoned with a huge dose of salt in a sadistic campaign by Thomas Hughes and Emma Tustin.
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The lad died after being found with 130 areas of injury at Tustin’s house near Solihull, West Mids, during lockdown last year.
Tustin was convicted of murder and Hughes found guilty of manslaughter yesterday at Coventry crown court.
It heard that four warnings of abuse to police and social services by family members went unheeded.
Each blamed the other one for Arthur’s horrific ordeal.
Tustin faces a life term when sentenced today.
Safeguarding experts said little had been learned since the failures over Baby P’s death in 2007.
One said: “Nothing has changed.”
The pair also restricted his food and water while they tucked into takeaways and ice creams — and forced him to make his bed on the living room floor.
In one harrowing audio recording he was heard crying: “No-one loves me.”
Their unrelenting abuse, much of it captured on the family’s home CCTV, went on for weeks before Arthur was beaten to death by Tustin on June 16 last year.
But the court heard that there were at least four key missed opportunities last year to save him:
- HIS gran Joanne Hughes alerted social services on April 16 after spotting numerous bruises — but they failed to pick up on the abuse during a visit to his home;
- FOUR days later, Joanne alerted Arthur’s school and a staff member called social services — but was reassured that the bruises were caused by “play”;
- ARTHUR’S uncle Daniel Hughes reported concerns to police — but was threatened with arrest for breaching lockdown if he tried to go back to the child’s home, and;
- KILLER Tustin’s stepfather made an anonymous call to social services weeks before Arthur’s death.
A Serious Case Review has been launched into the shortcomings. West Midlands Police is also being probed by its watchdog over the incident with Daniel.
But child safeguarding experts said the case showed little has been learned since similar failures over the death of Baby P at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and his brother in Haringey, North London, in 2007.
Social workers, police and health professionals then missed warning signs which could have saved little Peter Connelly’s life.
‘NOTHING HAS CHANGED’
Expert Gerald Hannah said: “Nothing has changed — in fact it’s got worse because the local authorities have been given more control and more autonomy.
“The main problem is statutory reporting, which has been made compulsory since tragic cases like Baby P and Daniel Pelka.
“This means that everybody has to report every single allegation, no matter how trivial. That has given an overload of information and makes the already difficult job of social services impossible.
“It has become difficult to identify which are the genuine cases or not.”
Arthur was found with 130 areas of injury at Tustin’s council semi near Solihull, West Mids — and with so much salt in his body that medics thought their kit had broken.
The seven-week trial heard how Liverpool fan Arthur was pummeled into a “desperately sad, thin, weak, miserable child”.
Less than a year earlier — before Hughes met Tustin on a dating website — he was just like any other five-year-old boy — active, energetic and with a love for football and cricket.
He had gone to live with his dad after his mum, Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow, was arrested over the killing of her boyfriend Gary Cunningham in February 2019.
The jury was told Tustin hated Arthur and saw him as an obstacle in the relationship.
Yet she showered her own two kids with affection.
Arthur was segregated in the hall and made to stand for more than 14 hours a day for up to a month and a half before his death.
His concerned uncle Daniel Hughes, who was threatened with arrest, passed on to police photos of Arthur’s bruising.
‘DADDY’S GOING TO KILL ME’
Mr Hughes told the court an officer “reluctantly” received them, adding: “He said he would speak to his sergeant and get back to me. He never did.”
Social services also received an anonymous call from Tustin’s stepdad John Dutton, saying that Hughes had confessed to “going to town” on Arthur.
He told jurors: “I thought he was in danger.”
Social services also told Arthur’s teachers they had no concerns about his well-being and that any injuries were from boisterous play.
Det Insp Laura Harrison, who led the investigation, told the trial: “The professionals who would ordinarily have been involved in Arthur’s life, such as teachers, weren’t having that contact with him and spotting changes in his behaviour or bruises on his body.
“And when social workers went out to Tustin’s home there was an absolute manipulation of them by the defendants. They painted a very different picture of what was really going on behind closed doors.”
Tustin recorded more than 22 pictures and videos plus 200 audio files of Arthur in distress, and even photographed him as he lay dying.
Arthur was so scared of Hughes that in an audio clip played in court, he screamed: “Daddy’s going to kill me.”
In police tapes Hughes admitted Arthur had once told him: “I’m in danger with you.”
In texts, Tustin branded Arthur “Satan” and “Hitler”.
And in a message 18 hours before Arthur collapsed at Tustin’s hands, Hughes raged: “Just gag him or something. Just end him.”
Arthur died while home alone with Tustin.
UNSURVIVABLE BRAIN BLEEDS
She shook the lad before slamming his head with such force it caused unsurvivable brain bleeds.
Rather than call 999 immediately, she was sending texts to arrange her birthday.
It was 12 minutes before she called medics.
Meanwhile, Hughes’s attempts to revive Arthur included hitting him on the head and pouring cola into his mouth.
After the guilty verdicts were returned yesterday, a minute’s silence was held in court for Arthur at the jury’s request.
Outside, Arthur’s maternal grandmother, Madeleine Halcrow, said Tustin and Hughes’ cruelty had been unfathomable.
She added: “They are cold, calculating, systematic torturers of a defenceless little boy. They’re wicked, evil.”
Appalling abuse for 8 months
Feb 2019: Arthur’s mum Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow is accused of killing her new partner — leaving the boy in the care of dad Hughes.
August 2019: Hughes meets Tustin, a mum of four, on a dating website.
Nov 2019-Feb 2020: Tustin moves into an annexe at the Hughes home. They buy a pink “thinking chair” for Arthur with punishments for bad behaviour. Couple get engaged on New Year’s Eve.
March 2020: Lockdown is announced. Hughes and Arthur move into Tustin’s council house in Shirley.
April 2020: Arthur referred to social services after his gran spots bruises. Social workers visit but have “no safeguarding concerns”. Police told of bruising but a log is shut down. Teachers told Arthur’s “doing grand”.
May 2020: Arthur spends every day stood up in a hall and puts himself to bed on living room floor. Hughes steps up his attacks. Tustin’s stepdad makes anonymous call to social services.
June 2020: School reopens but Arthur is kept off “because staff would see bruises” and is “anxious”.
June 16, 2020: Arthur suffers unsurvivable brain injuries while alone with Tustin.
June 17, 2020: His life support is switched off.
Lock helped lies
TRAGIC Arthur Labinjo-Hughes had 130 bruises on his body — one for every day that he was in lockdown.
His dad and stepmum were able to keep him at home during the worst of their abuse from April 2020 while schools were shut.
And it meant teachers never had the chance to notice his injuries and catastrophic weight loss.
Staff at Dickens Heath primary were also caught out by Hughes’ deception.
In welfare checks over the phone, dad Thomas told them Arthur was “doing grand” and had been “enjoying the sunshine and messing about the garden”.
Det Insp Laura Harrison, of West Mids Police, said “The lockdown meant professionals didn’t have the opportunity to monitor him in the same way they would do with children normally.
“I do think that lockdown contributed. Professionals who would ordinarily have been involved in Arthur’s life, such as teachers, weren’t having that contact with him and spotting changes in his behaviour or bruises on his body.”
There are fears thousands of vulnerable kids may have suffered worse abuse in the two major Covid shutdowns since March 2020.
Last year, England’s chief inspector of schools Amanda Spielman warned teachers might not have picked up early warning signs of abuse or neglect while many pupils were out of school.
Referrals to social care teams in 2020 were also down by a fifth.
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Reminder of Baby P
PETER Connelly, called Baby P in court, was 17 months old when he died in 2007.
He suffered more than 50 injuries while being monitored by social services, who missed warning signs.
Peter was repeatedly admitted to hospital before he died.
His mother Tracey, her boyfriend Steven Barker, and his brother Jason Owen were convicted of causing or allowing a child’s death.
The child protection services of Haringey Council, North London, were widely criticised.
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