Arthur Labinjo-Hughes: Killer father Thomas Hughes has prison sentence increased by three years

Arthur Labinjo-Hughes' dad, who was found guilty of killing his son, has had his prison sentence increased by judges at the Court of Appeal.

Thomas Hughes was sentenced to 21 years for the manslaughter of his son and his partner Emma Tustin was jailed for life with a minimum term of 29 years in December last year for murder.

The pair appealed against the length of their sentences - which were also referred to appeal court judges for being unduly lenient.

Judges have increased Hughes's jail term by three years.

Tustin and Hughes were convicted for killing the youngster, who was left with an unsurvivable brain injury while in the care of Tustin.

However, the judges refused to change Tustin’s sentence, finding she should not be given a whole life order and that her current sentence was not unduly lenient.

The Court of Appeal was previously told the child suffered an unsurvivable brain injury and faced “systematic brutality amounting to torture” in the lead up to his death.

Arthur, from Solihull in the West Midlands, was poisoned, starved and beaten.

On Friday, the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett said: "Anyone considering the detailed written materials that we have seen, and CCTV footage, would find it hard to contemplate how anyone, let alone someone with joint responsibility for his care, could have treated Arthur as Tustin did.

"The child cruelty in which she engaged was at the top end of the scale for sentencing purposes, had it been considered in isolation.”

The judge continued: "The mechanisms of assault reflected explosive violence calculated to cause maximum harm rather than any sadism in the usual sense of the word.

"It would not alone have taken this case into 30-year minimum territory.

"It was the antecedent protracted and serious cruelty which did have an element of sadism that, on the judge’s reasoning, firmly placed this case at a minimum starting point of 30 years."

He went on: "In our view the judge was right to take a starting point of 30 years for the principal reason he gave, namely that to do so properly reflected the seriousness of the murder of Arthur and the dreadful cruelty for which Tustin was responsible that preceded it."

Tustin only appealed against the on child cruelty offences.

Who was Arthur Labinjo-Hughes?

"He enjoyed his food, liked school, loved playing cricket and football and adored spending his time with his extended family," was how a judge described Arthur - at the time he first moved to live with his father and Emma Tustin in Solihull.

He was a "healthy, happy young boy."

At the time of his death, Arthur was living with his father Thomas Hughes, and his father's partner Emma Tustin.

Arthur suffered horrendous abuse at the hands of those who should have been looking after him.

Video taken by Arthur's uncle shows the six-year-old in happier times talking about his footballing dreams

When did Arthur Labinjo-Hughes die?

Arthur died after sustaining an "unsurvivable brain injury" on June 16, 2020 while he was with his dad's partner's Tustin in her home in Cranmore Road, Solihull, West Midlands

The schoolboy died in hospital the next day.

What happened to Arthur Labinjo-Hughes?

The six-year-old, from Solihull, West Midlands, was poisoned, starved and beaten by Tustin, 32, and Hughes, 29, in a prolonged campaign of abuse.

Tustin claimed Arthur’s fatal head injury must have been self-inflicted, possibly caused by him throwing himself down the staircase in her hallway, and describing how she heard a "bang" and a "crack".

She told the 999 call handler Arthur fell and banged his head and then while he was on the floor he banged his head another five times.