The cruelty shown in the video has shocked thousands.
The cruelty shown in the video has shocked thousands.
Warning: This story contains descriptions of child abuse and may cause distress
Sickening footage showing a starving British boy being forced to watch on as his parents feasted on McDonald’s and ice-cream has emerged in a new documentary into the 6-year-old’s horrific death.
Arthur Labinjo Hughes was killed by his stepmum Emma Tustin and father Thomas Hughes, in June 2020 after being poisoned, starved and beaten in “campaign of cruelty” that lasted months.
He was segregated for 14 hours a day and forced to sleep on the floor in a brutal struggle that was described in court as matching the “medical definition of child torture”.
He was also poisoned with so much salt he was too weak to fight back against his abusers.
Tustin was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 29 years, while Hughes was found guilty of manslaughter and given a 21-year sentence.
The British couple were also found guilty of multiple counts of child cruelty.
Arthur Labinjo-Hughes was just six when he was killed by dad Thomas Hughes and stepmum Emma Tustin. Photo / Supplied
Arthur’s death, which occurred during the first global lockdown, sent shockwaves through the UK after it emerged he had more than 100 injuries to his body when he died of an “unsurvivable” brain injury at his home.
Now, a new doco, The Murder of Arthur Labinjo Hughes: A Faking It Special, has shared “heartbreaking” footage of the youngster’s torturous suffering – including bizarre CCTV Tustin filmed inside the house showing his killer parents tucking into takeaway food while the boy starved.
“This is how cruel this couple were, they’re seen sitting on the sofa enjoying a McDonald’s, laughing and joking together,” the documentary states.
“At the same time their six-year-old boy is standing up, facing the wall, not allowed to move while they eat this food in front of him.
Hughes was found guilty of manslaughter and received 21 years, while Tustin was found guilty of murder and received a life sentence, with a minimum term of 29 years. Photo / West Midlands Police
The chilling clip has since been shared on TikTok where it is currently leaving viewers from around the world horrified.
“The fact they’re eating in front of him and everything else they did. Poor lad,” an emotional user wrote.
“I will never ever understand how anyone can treat children like this they are the most precious gift,” one commented.
“How could anyone do this to a child it breaks my heart may he rest in peace,” another added.
The documentary also aired footage taken of Arthur on the day of his death, showing him waking up after spending the night sleeping on the living room floor appearing “frail and emaciated”.
Just hours later, Tustin claimed he summoned the strength to “headbutt” her and himself as part of her fictitious cover story, yet the clip shows he was so weak he couldn’t even lift his duvet.
CCTV footage shared in a new doco shows Tustin and Hughes feasting on treats while Arthur starved. Photo / West Midlands Police
Viewers were also given access to police bodycam footage taken on the scene which showed Tustin “crying” as she claimed Arthur had trashed the home and “battered” her and his dad over the past six months.
She can be seen wiping her eyes as she tries to convince officers she is not to blame for Arthur’s death – but body language expert Dr Cliff Lansley tore her lies apart during the doco.
“There’s no sadness going on there, she’s doing a few dry sniffs,” he told cameras.
“She’s pretending to wipe tears which we can’t see even close up, no dampness around the eyes, but she’s trying to mimic sadness.”
Perhaps the most gut-wrenching moment is hearing a series of sound recordings captured by Tustin in a bid to try and prove Arthur was a difficult child – but instead they do the complete opposite.
In one 23-second recording, Arthur can be heard crying “no one loves me” four times.
In another, he repeatedly wails “no one is going to feed me”.
“Nobody will ever forget the video of his cries of pain and screaming nobody loves him,” one distressed social media user commented.
“My heart is actually aching no lie when I watched this,” another stated.
Tustin was convicted of murder and Hughes found guilty of manslaughter at Coventry crown court in December 2021.
The court 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.
Police bodycam footage of Tustin’s interview at the scene was also shared. Photo / Crown Prosecution Service
Perhaps the most gut-wrenching moment is hearing a series of sound recordings captured by Tustin in a bid to try and prove Arthur was a difficult child – but instead they do the complete opposite.
Each blamed the other one for Arthur’s horrific ordeal.
Arthur’s death rocked the UK and sparked a national review. Photo / Supplied
The case rocked the UK – with even Tustin’s cellmates so horrified by the abuse she inflicted on the little boy, they decided to get “revenge” by lacing her food with salt the way she had done to Arthur.
“Some of the things we did were cruel – but she was crueller to Arthur so she deserved it,” her former cellmate of six weeks, Elaine Pritchard, told the Sunday Mirror.
A national review was later ordered to determine why the public services and systems designed to protect Arthur and another murdered child, 16-month-old Star Hobson, failed.
Published by the UK’s national independent Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, it determined the child protection system must be “strengthened locally and nationally”.
