A family’s dreadful legacy
ICANNOT begin to imagine the pain of losing a grandchild, especially in such horrendous circumstances as those of little Arthur Labinjo-Hughes. The misery for one set of grandparents is compounded by an unusual element of a family tragedy that has brought howls of anguish across the country.
Six-year-old Arthur’s death at the hands of his father and stepmother has sparked calls for investigations, tougher laws and harsher penalties for those who kill children.
I could not read detailed reports of what happened to that poor boy. The words “starved, poisoned and beaten to death” were enough to move me close to tears.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson quickly promised to bring in “Arthur’s Law” to make sure child-killers die behind bars. It’s an understandable reaction but Boris is not known for following through on his promises and neither major party showed much of a desire to act after the horrific deaths of other children, such as Baby P, Victoria Climbie and, closer to home, Eve Leatherland, whose Mansfield mum was jailed in 2019 or allowing her boyfriend to kill the toddler.
With our prisons heaving, I can’t see what will be achieved by locking up Arthur’s stepmother, Emma Tustin, and his father, Thomas Hughes, for longer than the 29 and 21 years they have been ordered to serve. No-one can say with certainty that criminals will not reoffend but it’s highly unlikely in such a case and if this vile pair have not come to terms with the horror of their crimes in two decades, they never will.
By that time – the world of social media hopes – fellow prisoners will have meted out the sort of punishment the state cannot. Facebook was teeming this week with ideas for wiping the pair out, from being lynched and tortured at the same time to being hanged live on television.
There will rightly be investigations into the alleged failings of police, social services and education officials to protect Arthur from abuse.
His paternal grandparents have spoken of their anger that social workers failed to raise the alarm, while police ignored repeated warnings after being sent pictures of the lad’s injuries.
Who would not sympathise with them?
Yet, deep down, they will be haunted by the knowledge that if their own daughter had not turned into a killer, their grandson might still be alive today.
It was only after daughter Olivia – a former University of Nottingham student – had been jailed for killing her boyfriend that custody of Arthur was granted to his dad, Hughes. Subsequently, Hughes moved in with Tustin and joined her in a campaign of systematic abuse of his son.
A daughter in jail for manslaughter, a grandson murdered: what a dreadful legacy for one family.
Pete is standing in for Martin Naylor