HOW COULD THEY?
7 most harrowing pieces of evidence that snared killer dad and stepmum over tragic Arthur Labinjo-Hughes’ death
A MONSTER dad and stepmum have been convicted of killing a six-year-old boy in a horrifying case that shocked the nation.
Jurors heard how Arthur Labinjo-Hughes was isolated, poisoned with salt and starved in his final months.
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The tragic youngster's short life came to an end when he was beaten to death by wicked Emma Tustin at her home in Shirley, West Mids.
She was yesterday found guilty of murder while Arthur's dad Thomas Hughes was convicted of manslaughter after a grisly seven-week trial.
It comes as...
- A dad and stepmum have been convicted of killing a young boy who was tortured to death
- The trial heard harrowing evidence that helped snare the killer pair
- Arthur's mum paid tribute from a jail cell where she is serving time for stabbing her lover to death
- Dramatic bodycam showed Tustin crying fake tears while talking to police
- A probe has been launched after Arthur's plight was ignored by police, social services and teachers
- The moment Tustin told 999 that Arthur 'threw himself on the floor'
Here are the seven most harrowing pieces of evidence to come out at trial.
Chilling recordings
Tustin recorded more than 22 pictures and videos of Arthur in distress highlighting the horrific abuse he was suffering.
Jurors were forced to watch clips of the mum cruelly tucking into a McDonald's while Arthur was left in a hallway for 14 hours without food.
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They also had to sit through shocking audio of the youngster sobbing: "Daddy's going to throw me out the window, daddy's going to throw me out the window, daddy's going to throw me out of the window."
In haunting video released by police, Arthur could be seen the morning of his death waking up on the living room floor after being denied a bed.
He appeared to be so frail he could barely pick up his bedding and staggered as he attempted to walk.
His pyjamas - the same onesie he had been in for the fifth day in a row - appear to be hanging off him.
Towards the end of the distressing clip, little Arthur edges out of the room while limping on his bruised legs.
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Arthur could also be heard wailing in one 23-second recording "no one loves me" and "no one is going to feed me" repeatedly.
The haunting clips were punctuated in evidence by vile text exchanges between Tustin and Hughes.
Hughes told Tustin to dig his son’s grave and “gag him with rope and a sock” when he was apparently misbehaving.
He also threatened to “take his c*****g jaw off his shoulders”.
Meanwhile, Tustin called her stepson vile names - including “Satan” and “Hitler” - over hundreds of disgusting messages.
On the day Arthur collapsed, his dad had messaged: “Put him outside, put him out with the rubbish.”
The youngster's tragic final moments were even captured on camera as Tustin was seen carrying his "limp" body into the living room.
She had already taken a picture of stricken Arthur lying in a hallway after inflicting the fatal blow.
Tustin's fake tears
As well as being snared by her own recordings, Tustin was captured in dramatic bodycam footage crying fake tears after Arthur collapsed.
The shameless mum blamed the youngster for his own injuries - claiming he "headbutted the floor on all fours".
Tustin added: "He banged his head three or four times. Obviously then I just picked him up.
"He knocked himself unconscious. I picked him up, put him on the sofa, poured water in his mouth."
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She also tells PC Louise Williams that Arthur was instructed to "sit on the thinking step" before he "threw himself all over the floor, threw himself on the radiator, hit me in the process of trying to get him back on the step."
Tustin claimed she attempted to "bear hug" the boy but he "dropped" and then kicked her as she tried to pick him up.
Bizarrely, the monster goes on to say Arthur, who by this point had been starved and force-fed salt until he could barely support his own frame, "smashed this house to pieces".
She added: "Done my best for that kid he f****** hates me. I couldn't get him off the floor."
Horrific injuries
After his death, doctors found 130 bruises on his skeletal body where he had suffered 93 different areas of injury.
The youngster was found to have been battered from head to toe and his cause of death was given as a ";head trauma inflicted on him by an adult".
Medics said this was consistent with being "vigorously shaken and his head banged repeatedly against a hard surface".
Arthur also had 25 sites of bruising on his scalp, face, and neck that raised “serious concerns about non-accidental injury”.
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There were also 20 areas of bruising on his arms and eight on his chest and stomach.
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 by Tustin and Hughes during lockdown.
Giving evidence, one doctor told jurors: “I’m not sure that outside of obvious traumatic situations I’ve ever seen a child found dead at home with this number of injuries to the head and face.”
Torture
Little Arthur was subjected to a "campaign of cruelty" that matched the “medical definition of child torture”.
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."
Arthur was forced to stand alone in a hallway for up to 14 hours a day and deprived of food and water.
Instead, his evil killers "prioritised their own desires" over Arthur's basic needs.
In the height of a heatwave, Arthur wore sweltering onesie for two days while being confined to the hallway for 26 hours in total.
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Meanwhile, his dad and stepmum cooled down with ice cream in a hot tub outside.
He was made to stand for long periods of time and wasn't allowed to eat meals with the rest of the family.
Tustin and Hughes also dished out unusual punishments as the sickening abuse ramped up - cutting up his football shirts and taking his teddy away.
The vile couple also compiled a list of "time penalties" for how long Arthur had to sit on a pink naughty chair.
The piece of paper - titled "Chair list" - included a one hour stint on a pink naughty chair if Arthur was "rude to mummy bear" [Tustin].
Other penalties included 20 minutes for a "poor attitude", 40 minutes for being "naughty", ten minutes for "weeing on toilet seat" and ten minutes for "talking like a baby".
A note at the bottom of the list read: "Any additional time accrued on chair such as crying, telling more than once, is extra 10 minutes on top of already set time."
Poison
One of the more harrowing parts of evidence in the trial was when it was revealed Arthur had been poisoned with salt.
The "off the charts" levels of salt in his body were so high that medics believed their equipment was broken.
Analysis revealed he had sodium levels between 180 and 187.2 millimoles per litre (mmol/L).
A normal range of sodium is around 140 mmol/L, jurors were told.
The levels were still the same seven hours after he was taken to hospital - suggesting he had consumed so much salt his stomach couldn't absorb it all at once.
In the hours before he was fatally attacked, Arthur was had eaten at least 34g of salt - the equivalent of six spoons worth.
Hughes had force-fed Arthur the massive dose with water before popping to Iceland and a toy store.
In the hours that followed, the youngster was murdered by Tustin.
Chillingly, he was so weak from the poisoning that he couldn't even put up a fight against her when she battered him.
Lies to 999
Jurors heard chilling audio of the moment Tustin lied to 999 operators after Arthur collapsed on June 16.
Tustin says: "Basically he's threw himself on the floor, he's headbutted the floor. I'm trying to pick him up in the process.
"He's headbutted me in the process."
Tustin is then heard saying there was a "big bang" and Arthur "knocked himself out".
She also claimed there is a "lump on his head"; that he had "done to himself".
In reality, she repeatedly slammed Arthur's head against a hard surface - bringing a tragic end to the tsunami of abuse he suffered at her hands.
Missed opportunities
Police, social workers and teachers missed a series of chances to save Arthur before his death in June last year.
Hughes and Tustin were able to shield behind Covid restrictions to hide their abuse from the authorities.
In April, concerned gran Joanne Hughes took pictures of bruises she noticed on Arthur's emaciated body.
She called social services and offered to send them the photos but told the court they “didn’t want to see them”.
Solihull Council’s children’s services team went round to the house the following day.
But social workers failed to spot the bruises - despite the images being taken just 25 hours earlier.
No further action was taken and the injury was put down to "boisterous play" with his step-siblings.
In another failing, it was revealed Arthur had made alarming remarks to his teachers at Dickens Heath Primary School that were not properly followed up.
The youngster expressed fears over his dad, telling staff: "Dad is going to kill me.
"Dad is going to throw me out the window...dad is a c***".
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Despite his comments, no action was taken and Hughes was believed by staff when he told them the youngster was "doing grand" during a call in lockdown.
Calls then went unanswered to the home in May and Arthur failed to return when schools re-opened on June 8.
Hughes claimed to teachers he wasn't eating and there was a risk he would faint if he came back so he was keeping him home.
Arthur never returned and died eight days later.
The boy's uncle had also sent over photos of bruising to police - but officers threatened him with arrest if he broke Covid rules by going to Tustin’s house.
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A serious case review has now been launched into the shortcomings - including that Tustin was already known to children’s services over previous concerns of domestic violence.
West Midlands Police, too, has been probed by the police watchdog over its actions after worried family members raised concerns over Arthur’s safety.
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Moment boy, 6, cries 'no one loves me, no one is going to feed me' before he was 'tortured to death by dad and stepmum'