Shock image of tragic Arthur’s injuries that social workers missed
THIS horrific photo shows the bruises suffered by a six-year-old boy two months before he was allegedly murdered at the hands of his father and stepmother.
It was taken by Arthur LabinjoHughes’s concerned grandmother in a desperate attempt to convince the authorities he was in danger.
But a court heard that social workers who were sent out to check on the boy said they noticed only a ‘faint’ yellow bruise – and were not shown the picture taken by Joanne Hughes until the following week.
Jayne Kavanagh, one of the social workers, told jurors she was ‘shocked’ when she was later shown photographs showing multiple bruises on the boy’s back.
Arthur was allegedly killed after suffering systematic abuse which matched the ‘medical definition of child torture’, including being deprived of food, made to stand for 14 hours a day and poisoned with salt before being fatally attacked.
His father Thomas Hughes, 29, and stepmother Emma Tustin, 32, deny murdering Arthur at their home in Solihull, West Midlands, in June 2020, during the first Covid lockdown. Mrs Kavanagh told jurors that she was sent to the address with a colleague after his grandmother contacted social services over her fears that Arthur was being physically abused.
There was also a concern for Tustin’s welfare after Hughes had told her to ‘go and kill yourself’. But the social worker said Hughes and Tustin claimed they ran a ‘happy household’ and Arthur ‘confidently jumped and pointed at the ceiling’ to indicate how happy and safe he felt at the property.
Social workers were persuaded the yellow bruise seen on Arthur was the result of a play-fight with a boxing glove set with his stepsibling which had got out of hand, Coventry Crown Court heard.
The photograph of the bruise was released by police amongst heart-wrenching CCTV and two audio clips of the youngster in the final weeks of the alleged campaign of abuse.
One clip, filmed by a security camera in the house, showed an apparently weak Arthur struggling to pick up a duvet off the floor, while the little boy was also heard saying ‘no-one is going to feed me’ and ‘nobody loves me’.
Jurors have heard Arthur had 130 injuries, all over his body, including 30 alone on his head and neck. They were told he suffered an unsurvivable brain injury. Tustin has claimed his fatal head injury was self-inflicted, possibly by throwing himself down the stairs.
Though not present for the alleged fatal assault, Hughes is accused of aiding the killing, and also faces three counts of child cruelty. He denies the charges.
Tustin has admitted one count of child cruelty but denies two other similar charges.
The trial continues.