Arthur Labinjo-Hughes: Killer father has sentence increased

The father of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes has had his manslaughter sentence for the boy's death increased.

Thomas Hughes had been jailed for 21 years, while his partner Emma Tustin was jailed for at least 29 years for Arthur's murder.

At the Court of Appeal on Friday, judges increased Hughes' term to 24 years, finding it unduly lenient.

Judges refused to change Tustin's sentence, finding her term to reflect her actions.

Arthur suffered a brain injury - described in the pair's trial as "unsurvivable" - while in the care of Tustin at her home in Solihull in June 2020.

The proceedings in December heard that before his death, Arthur had been poisoned with salt, subjected to regular beatings, denied food and drink, and made to stand for hours alone in the hallway of Tustin's house.

Jurors were told Tustin, 32, carried out a fatal assault by violently shaking the schoolboy and repeatedly banging his head on a hard surface, and while Hughes, 29, was not present, he was culpable in the death as he "encouraged" violence against his son and dealt out beatings.

In the judgement following a review of Hughes's sentence, Lord Burnett said: "We consider that there is substance in the Attorney General's argument relating to manslaughter that in encouraging Tustin to harm Arthur in the way he did there was a substantial risk that she would do something that would kill him."

He added the manslaughter "bristled with aggravating features... not least as a result of Hughes' own conduct".

Discussing Tustin's sentence, the judges refused to increase her term, finding it was an "appropriate sentence".

Lord Burnett said: "Anyone considering the detailed, written materials that we have seen, and CCTV footage, would find it hard to contemplate how anyone, let alone someone with joint responsibility for his care, could have treated Arthur as Tustin did.

"The child cruelty in which she engaged was at the top end of the scale for sentencing purposes, had it been considered in isolation."

He explained her final sentence reflected the "protracted and serious cruelty" she inflicted.

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