A tiny scrap of peace
Arthur’s killer dad releases body to mum for funeral
THE killer father of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes has agreed to release the tragic boy’s body so his mother can have him laid to rest.
Thomas Hughes, 29, is serving a 21-year jail sentence for the sixyear-old’s manslaughter.
Bernard Richmond QC, Hughes’ lawyer, said his client had been “passive” over releasing his son’s body, but hoped this move would provide “a tiny scrap of peace” for Arthur’s mother.
He told Coventry Crown Court Hughes had left the issue of Arthur’s burial for the boy’s two sets of grandparents to resolve. But they had been unable to agree.
Arthur’s mother, Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow, is currently behind bars after killing her boyfriend in 2019. It was her arrest that led to Arthur falling into the care of Hughes and Emma Tustin, 32.
In a statement released by Ms Labinjo-Halcrow, she said: “My beautiful boy has still not been laid to rest. He is still alone and cold… Burying my beloved son is the final thing I will ever be able to do for him.”
Mr Richmond said his client “has instructed me to say Arthur’s remains, after a service with his family, must go to his mother’s family for her to have a funeral”.
Ms Labinjo-Halcrow’s family want the youngster buried in a churchyard in Birmingham.
Murderer Tustin and boyfriend Hughes subjected Arthur to a horrific campaign of abuse last year.
Yesterday, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said a national probe into his death would begin immediately. He said the “whole nation is distraught” over the case.
He told MPs: “I am as determined as everybody in this House to get to the truth and expose what went wrong, and take any action necessary to protect children.”
The review will involve Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary.
It emerged during Tustin and Hughes’s trial that Arthur had been seen by social workers just two months before he died, but they concluded there were “no safeguarding concerns”.