distressing cases he d dealt with and described the couple as spiteful and sadistic . phil mackie was in court. are you going to play for england, arthur? this is how his family want him to be remembered. after when i ve played for liverpool, i will play for tottenham. as a football loving six year old and not the emaciated child who was so sick he could barely stand up. his killers, emma tustin and thomas hughes, were supposed to be looking after him. arthur was told to sit on the thinking step. he threw himself all over the floor, he s banged his head off the radiator, he s hit me, he s kicked me in the process of trying to get him back on the thinking step. while they lied to the police, arthur lay a few feet away with injuries so severe they were the equivalent of a high speed road crash. today the judge, mrjustice mark wall, said it had been without doubt one of the most distressing and disturbing cases
arthur had gone to live with his dad in march last year at the beginning of lockdown. lockdown saw a 23% rise in the number of calls to the nspcc. it was a time when some vulnerable children became invisible. solihull council have described arthur s death as a terrible tragedy, and there will now be an independent serious case review. that will come too late for arthur s family, left devastated, remembering a six year old boy who loved superheroes. if arthur could ask for one final thing, it would be that he was remembered for his superpowers. that s what i will always remember him for, his superpower. and arthur s superpower was his smile. our correspondent phil
thank you so much. the dad and stepmum of six year old arthur labinyo hughes will find out today how long they will spend in jail of killing their child. emma tustin was found guilty of murder, and her partner thomas hughes of manslaughter. the pair were described in court as utterly ruthless and pitiless . they had beaten arthur, deprived him of food, made him stand for 1h hours facing a door and force fed him meals laced with salt. because of the severeity of the abuse, viewers may find some of this report from graham satchell upsetting. arthur was my sunny delight. that s what i called him. he was always happy, smiling, loving, caring. he showed affection to everyone. he was a beautiful boy.
and he appeared to have a limp, he looked incredibly weak, he was crying and he was struggling to lift up a duvet. the court also heard today some victim personal statements, an opportunity for family members to tell those who have committed the crimes about the impact they have had on them. we heard from arthur s paternal grandmotherjoanne hughes, who said today in court that arthur was happy, wasjoyous, was exuberant, and that his death had turned their life into perpetual grey. it also emerged during the trial that arthur had been seen by social workers two months before he died. it wasjoanne hughes, his paternal grandmother, who spotted a bruise on arthur but the trial heard that it was concluded by the social workers that there were no safeguarding concerns,
i m joined by wendy thorogood, director of the association of child protection professionals this is a very hard case for anyone. i should imagine particularly for anyone who works in this field. yes. anyone who works in this field. yes, tra . ic anyone who works in this field. yes, trauic for anyone who works in this field. yes, tragic for peeple anyone who works in this field. yes, tragic for people that anyone who works in this field. ye: tragic for people that work in this field because we all feel responsible. we keep getting the same lessons and it always leaves us feeling helpless and as if we have not done enough. we have to remember that professionals can be manipulated of this and i don t know the whole details of the case. if does seem in this case the woman who was looking after arthur who was his father s partner was very good at presenting an image that was clearly completely in variance with what the play was experiencing behind closed voice. again the pub and behind