Arthur’s MP calls for ‘monster’ killers to be given more jail time
THE ‘lenient’ jail sentences handed to the ‘monsters’ who killed sixyear-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes will be reviewed, the Attorney General confirmed yesterday.
Emma Tustin, 32, was jailed for a minimum of 29 years on Friday for murder and child cruelty. Thomas Hughes, 29, was given 21 years for manslaughter.
The Attorney General’s Office has 28 days from the date of sentence to review the case, assess whether it falls under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme and make a decision on referring it to the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal then makes the decision about the sentence.
Confirming the review, a spokesman said: ‘The Attorney General’s thoughts are with those who loved Arthur.’
The decision came as footballers and fans yesterday held rounds of applause before matches and during the sixth minute of games.
Players and supporters paid the tribute to Arthur at Birmingham City, the club he supported, as well as at other matches taking place in the English Premier League and Scottish Premiership.
Solihull Conservative MP Julian Knight said yesterday: ‘There’s a palpable sense of real loss and also, frankly, anger, and questions over how this was allowed to happen – how these monsters were allowed to inflict this horrible torture on this young, defenceless boy.
‘But also I think anyone reflecting on those sentences thinks that they were too lenient.’
Arthur was starved and beaten to death by his stepmother Tustin and his father Hughes who made him stand alone for more than 14 hours a day in a hellish regime over the last painful months of his life.
West Midlands Police released footage of the couple eating McDonald’s, while a starving Arthur is left to his own devices.
The trial heard harrowing clips of Arthur crying ‘No one loves me’ and ‘No one is going to feed me’.