The heartbreaking case of Arthur Labinjo Hughes

Paramedics are called to a property in Sullyhole on the 16th of June 2020. They are responding to a call from a woman claiming her stepson had knocked himself unconscious whilst headbutting the floor. She goes on to explain that this little boy is violent, has attacked her and other family members. But what paramedics find when they arrive is a severely malnourished, unconscious six-year-old boy who is covered head to toe in bruises. This is the utterly heartbreaking case of Arthur Labinjo Hughes.

Hello and welcome back to Unthinkable, a true crime podcast. My name is Lisa, and this case today is utterly, utterly heartbreaking. Again, it is a well-known case, but I wanted to cover it. So, like I've said before, with these cases, I think it's important to keep getting them out there so people don't forget what happened to them in a hope that maybe this will help towards prevention of these horrific crimes. Whenever we hear stories like this one today, they're always so shocking at the time.

But as time goes on and other things and other parts of our lives take over, and these crimes often get pushed to the back of our minds. But for me, it's about keeping their story alive. So we don't forget. Right, so that being said, let's get started. Right, so little Arthur, so he was born on the 4th of January 2014. So his mother is Olivia Labinjo Hulcrow, and his father is Thomas Hughes. His parents separated just before Arthur's second birthday. They share custody. Arthur was very close to his grandparents.

And Arthur, bless him, he was a huge Birmingham City football fan. And just looking at the photos of him before, he's so sweet and he has this huge cheeky smile. And he just looks so happy and he's healthy and he just had a normal life. And there's a photo of him carrying a Paddington Bear backpack. I think it's Paddington Bear, anyway. Um, and he's looking up at the camera and he's just so full of joy. Like just lovely, bless him. Um, okay, so Arthur's parents shared custody, he was mainly with his mum, and Olivia, she loved Arthur, and she was trying really hard to be a good mum.

Um, but she did have a bit of an alcohol problem, and she was trying to get help with this, so she was in an alcohol recovery plan, but she loved him, and you know, she would never have hurt him. Um now, Olivia she meets uh what will go on to be her new partner, Gary Cunningham, and she meets him on an alcohol awareness course. So Gary has an alcohol problem too. The couple move in together quite quickly, and apparently it was quite a volatile home, so it was quite a lot of arguments, um, and they are both drinking at this time, so these are alcohol-fueled arguments.

Um, now in February 2019, Gary Cunningham is found in the corridor of a shared property, and he's found by a uh delivery driver. He's covered in stab wounds and he's bleeding heavily. Now the police are called, and the police find Olivia in one of the flats with a bloodstained knife in the sink, and she is arrested. Now Gary dies. He dies from a stab wound to his leg. And after appearing in court, Olivia is sentenced to 11 years in prison for manslaughter. Um, so it's not murder because she she didn't try to kill him, she wasn't, you know, expecting him to die, but she'd hit the vein in his leg and he bled out.

So so yes, so 11 years in prison for manslaughter. And this is awful for Arthur. So his mum is now going away for a long time, uh, and this does affect Arthur. Of course it does. So Arthur, it's noted that he started showing signs of distress and anxiety. This is quite a stressful time for him. But Arthur goes to live with his dad. Now, his dad's actually living in an annex at the bottom of his parents' house, so Arthur's grandparents' house, and they loved him. You know, they loved that little boy.

So even though he's showing signs of like distress, he is in a wonderful place with his grandparents and his father. And you know, he has so much love around him, and he's very close to his uncle, too, his dad's brother. So this is a really lovely environment for Arthur. So, despite of what he's been through, he's happy and he's safe. Right, so in August 2019, Arthur's father, Thomas Hughes, meets Emma Tustin. They meet on plenty of fish. I just want to point out here that I hate this woman. I hate her.

She was introduced to Arthur quite early into their relationship.

And she states that her and Arthur were friends straight away. This is not true, this is a lie. So Arthur's uncle noticed that since meeting Emma, Thomas had become a lot stricter with Arthur, and Arthur had appeared frightened, and even the school assistants noticed that Arthur had changed, he'd become less happy, and she had concerns because Arthur had been um talking about fears about being either separated or killed by his father. So she calls a meeting with Arthur's father and grandmother, and of course, his dad makes excuses, blaming his mother because she was taken away.

He's been separated from her. At this time, Arthur's still living in the annex at his grandparents' house, and we know that he was happy here, but there is a change to him since Thomas met Emma. Now, on the 21st of October 2019, Arthur was with his grandmother from his mother's side, uh, Madeline. It was her birthday. Madeline called Arthur her sunny delight because he was always so happy. She said that he would smile all the time. However, this time she felt that Arthur had lost his sparkle, like something was wrong, something was different.

So when Thomas comes to pick him up, Arthur asks Thomas, Is she in the car? Thomas says yes, and Arthur actually starts crying, and he's asking if he can stay with his grandmother, but his dad says no and takes him home. And sadly, that was the last time that Madeline saw Arthur alive. So on the 23rd of October, Madeline receives a message from Arthur out of the blue saying you are never seeing Arthur again, and he is never seeing his mother again. And he says that he won't let Arthur have any of the letters that his mother has written to him.

Um and she also says, If you come to the house, I'll call the police. And Madeline's asking why, what like what's happened? What you know, what have I done? And he just says, I have my reasons. Um, and it's around Christmas time, so Madeline takes Arthur's Christmas presents round and she left them in the porch. And later after Arthur had died, these presents are actually found under the bed, still wrapped up, so he'd never been given them. The presents for Arthur, and they were kept away from him.

It's just so horrible. Um, right, so let's jump to March 2020. Now the whole country goes into lockdown. This is an awful time where children actually get locked up with their abusers, and Thomas, Arthur's father, decides to move himself and Arthur from that safe, loving environment that his parents annex, and he decides to move in with Emma. Um, I don't like her at all. So he they the the pair move in with Emma for the duration of lockdown. In April 2020, Joanna Hughes, so that's Thomas's mother, she contacts Madeline and she asks if she can pop round.

She was worried about Arthur and she'd noticed some unusual bruising on him. She takes pictures of this. Now Madeline agrees, and Joanna and her husband Chris go round to see Madeline. I should say here as well that Madeline is a nurse, so she you know she knows. Um so Joanna, she shows Madeline the photos, and there's bruising on Arthur's back on his left shoulder, like on his left shoulder blade, and on his right shoulder blade. And what Madeline notices is that there's older yellow bruises underneath fresh purple bruises, which shows that this has been going on for a while.

Like if you've got um injuries that are healing, and then you've got fresh ones on top of them, this is like a continual cycle. And she also says that she can see three fingers, so it's a handprint. So they call social services and they do go round. But they are told that there was no injury visible, no cause for concern. So Madeline calls the police, and the police go round, and they also say there's no sign of injury. They say the house is immaculate and no further action is taken. But Arthur had injuries, they had photos of them.

I can only assume that they didn't look. Didn't look at Arthur's injuries. I imagine that Emma manipulated the situation to her advantage and the police social service didn't speak to Arthur on his own, or that he was just too frightened to speak. You see this a lot, don't you? Where they were almost coached into saying something completely different through fear. It's just terrible. So social workers and the police are involved at this point, but they well, they seem no further action. So Arthur moved in with Emma in March 2020.

By the 16th of June, Arthur is dead. That's three months. In three months, they tortured him, beat him, starved him, isolated him. This poor boy. You know, they tortured him to the point that they killed him. So let's talk about what went on in that house at their hands. So, firstly, Arthur was forced to sleep on the floor in the living room. Now, Emma had actually set up CCTV cameras in the living room so she could say monitor Arthur's behaviour. Apparently, she said he would rip things up and he once dropped her tour toys.

I very much doubt any of these are true, but she put CCTV up anyway. Um, but it actually records Arthur's treatment. It's absolutely heartbreaking, and heartbreaking doesn't even cover, it doesn't feel like a strong enough word. Um so these videos, they show Arthur being forced to stand in the hallway on one spot like a soldier, so to stand up straight for up to 14 hours. And if he moved or tried to sit down, he'd be punished. And between the 12th of June to the 14th of June, Arthur stood in that hallway for thirty-five hours.

Imagine standing still. I mean it's hard enough to stand still for a few minutes, isn't it? But thirty-five hours and he's not allowed to move, and everyone else is wandering around the house freely. There's footage of Emma slapping him around the back of the head as she walks past him, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and pushing him roughly into the wall. And whilst they are in the living room, they're watching TV, like it's a normal thing to do, Arthur is is is standing in in the hallway.

There's a clip where Arthur is in a onesie in the hallway, and it's like one of the hottest days of the year, and Arthur's father walks past him in ice lolly, and Arthur's not even he's not allowed to eat, he's not allowed to drink, like they're starving him, and he's dehydrated. And on the rare occasion that Emma did allow Arthur to eat, she laced his food with salt. So when he's offered water, you know, he's gonna drink it because he's thirsty, but it's covered like she's layered it with salt, so she's poisoning him.

It's j uh it's just so it's it's just so cruel. So he's hungry and he's thirsty, and the only food or drink he is offered has been laced with salt, and his dad just walks past him eating icony, like it's just it's horrible. So he's being poisoned. Now, in the court case, it came out that Arthur's blood sodium levels measured at right. So I've got to get this right, over 180 millimoles per litre. 180 millimoles, that's it's M-I-L-I-M-O-L E S. So that's 180. The normal range is between 135 and 145.

That's the salt poisoning. Now, one of the most heartbreaking clips, I watched it once, I will never watch it again. Um, this is on the morning, um, just before Arthur collapses. So he's lying on the floor, um, and you see him try to get up, and he's in it the onesie, the same onesie, and he's so weak he can barely stand. He's trying to pick up his duvet, and it looks like he's limping, and he's crying, and he's shuffling around and he's trying to stay on his feet, and he's trying to fold the duvet up because he would be punished if he hadn't.

But he he can barely walk, he's so weak, he's crying, he's crying for his grandmother, he's crying for his uncle, and he can be heard saying, No, nobody loves me. Like it's just heartbreaking. I watched it once, I didn't watch it to the end either. Um, the video is online, it's very easy to find. You might have seen it already, but if you haven't, I will warn you it will stay with you. It's one of those that you wish you hadn't seen. But if you are curious, it is there. It's just awful. Um, so aside from the CCTV, Emma Tustin recorded more than 200 voice notes.

The majority of them are Arthur crying, again, crying for his grandmother. And he can be heard saying, No one will feed me, and he's heard saying, My daddy's gonna throw me out of the window. So before Arthur's father met Emma Tunstan, he was described as a loving father, and Thomas's brother noted that Thomas's behaviour, particularly towards Arthur, did change. He said he seemed less patient, and Arthur appeared quite nervous and quiet around his dad. And no doubt Emma, you know, she is the most evil of the two.

But Arthur's dad is just as culpable. He didn't save Arthur. He stood by and let this appalling treatment happen. There are text messages between the two. They're revealed in court. And they are not the words of a loving father. In one WhatsApp message, Thomas tells Arthur to just end him, take his jaw off, gag him, he threatens to take his neck off, and he even jokes about digging Arthur's grave. Emma's messages were just as awful as you can imagine. And she says that Arthur's making her life hell.

Her life hell. It's delusional. I hate her so much. She's just she's pure evil. So on the morning of the 16th of June, and so this is the morning when when we see Arthur looking very weak when he's trying to fold his duvet this morning. Um so Emma takes Arthur with her to a hairdressing appointment that she has. Now the hairdresser and her partner, they both say that Arthur looked very gaunt, malnourished, very sad and frightened. And they said that Emma shouted at him the whole time. The hairdresser's partner, she he secretly gave Arthur a drink of water, and he said that Arthur looked terrified to take it from him.

But he said, you know, he said it's fine, you like please don't be afraid of me. But you do have to ask the question, why didn't they intervene? At this time, why why wasn't something done? Like if they can see what's happening, why didn't they intervene after they'd left? You know, do something. I don't know, I'm not blaming them, but it does make you wonder. Um, so Emma and Arthur arrived home around 2 p.m. Now Emma takes a photo of Arthur crying. This is at 2.15, and it's believed that the fatal the fatal assault took place at 2.30.

So paramedics are called, and it's Emma that calls them. Um and I tried to put the phone call on the podcast so you can hear it. Um I haven't quite managed to do it. I don't know how to to do that yet. So um, if anyone has any tips, please let me know. Um but the phone call is easy to find um and you can hear it, and and straight away she blames Arthur. She said that he fell on the floor and banged his head and that he headbutts the floor five times. And she tells them that he's barely breathing and that he's in an apt consciousness, and then she starts to talk about how he's basically been treating them all like S-H-I-T.

This child is dying in front of the and she is putting all the blame on him. So she goes on to say that he threw himself on the floor, started headbutting the floor, and when she picked him up to try and stop him, he started headbutting her. She says there's a lump on his head and he's done it all to himself. There's just there's just there's n there's no compassion, is there? Whatsoever. Like, how can you look at a broken dying child on the floor and blame him? Now, when paramedics arrive, they are concerned by Arthur's appearance.

He's unkempt and they said that he is covered head to toe in bruises. And later in hospital, um, a CT scan showed that he had just suffered a devastating injury to his head and he could not be saved. And Arthur died the early hours of the following morning. Now, when paramedics arrive at the property, they have alerted the police. So the police arrive and they are talking to Emma, and they've got footage of her on their body cam. And again, she's saying Arthur b batters her kids, he battered his dad, he smashed the whole house up.

Like he's six years old. She's saying that he pushed her down the stairs, she says he kicked her, hit her, and then she says, I've done my best for that kid. I've done my best for that kid.

So um Arthur's fatal injury is said to be um he was shaken so violently and having his head repeatedly hit on a hard surface. He had over 130 bruises all over his body, and the extent of his injuries were compared to torture. And he was tortured. There's there's no other word for it, is there? So both Emma Tustin and Thomas Hughes are arrested on the evening of the 16th of June on suspicion of assault and murder. And police office uh police officers have an overwhelming amount of evidence against them with all the videos, the voice messages and photos.

Like Emma Tustin was convicted of murdering Arthur on December 2021, and she was given life in prison in prison serving a minimum of 29 years. Thomas Hughes was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 21 years. His sentence was increased to 24 years after an appeal. The judge, Mr. Justice Wall, described Arthur's case as among the most distressing and disturbing cases he'd ever seen. The jury members were told that they wouldn't have to sit another jury duty again in their life as this case was so distressing.

Arthur's grandmother, Madeline, she called the pair the wicked, evil. She said they are cold, calculating, torturers. Torturers of this defenseless little boy. Arthur's mum, she paid an emotional tribute from prison. She said that Arthur was the light of her life. She said he wasn't just my only child, he was my best friend. And she said his superpower was his smile. She added that Arthur he had loved football. He was a supporter of Birmingham City Football Club. And the club actually paid tribute to Arthur.

You may remember his picture was displayed at the stadium, and they held a two-minute silence for him. And Birmingham City, they actually renamed their family zone to Arthur's area in his memory, which is lovely. Now there was, of course, public outcry. How could this happen again? Social services were involved, the police were involved, and a review was launched after Arthur's death. It was found that social services and child protection services had been involved in Arthur's life on various occasions, and they had repeatedly failed to intervene to help and save him.

The phrase lessons learned appears again, which is one we hear quite often in these cases. And what I don't get about this case, so Emma didn't want Arthur. She had texted a message to Thomas saying, I want you, I don't want him. So she didn't want him, and Thomas didn't want him. You know, he had two sets of loving grandparents. He had an uncle who adored him, and they would have taken him in and they loved him. You know, they would have chosen to keep him. But I don't I don't know why they stopped other family members.

They even stopped them from seeing him. They they stopped Arthur from seeing the other family members. So it doesn't make sense to me, you know, like if if you don't want the boy, uh why not let your parents take him so he can be looked after? You know, he was with them for three months in that house. You know? It's just such a heartbreaking case. Um, I do want to dedicate this case, obviously, to Arthur. He's the superhero loving, football loving, lovely little boy. Oh, it's very sad. But I do like to finish by saying in a world where you can be anything, be kind.

Let me know what you think of this case. Take care.

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