Football

Arthur Labinjo-Hughes: Review into whether sentences of boy’s killers were too lenient



The jail sentences of the couple who killed six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes are to be reviewed to “determine whether they were too low”, the Attorney General’s office has confirmed.

Arthur was left with an unsurvivable brain injury while in the sole care of his stepmother, 32-year-old Emma Tustin, who was jailed for life on Friday after being convicted of murder by assaulting the defenceless child in Solihull on 16 June last year at her home in Cranmore Road.

Tustin’s life sentence carries a minimum term of 29 years, while Arthur’s father Thomas Hughes was sentenced to 21 years for manslaughter.

Jurors heard that he encouraged the killing of his son with actions which included sending a text message to Tustin less than 24 hours before the fatal attack, instructing her to “just end him”.

The Attorney General’s office (AGO) confirmed on Saturday afternoon that the sentences are to be reviewed to asses whether they were too lenient.

It came after local MP Julian Knight announced his intention to refer the sentences for review, writing on Twitter: “I’ve just laid flowers at the shrine for young Arthur, lots of touching tributes from local residents and people around Solihull.

“There’s a palpable sense of real loss and tragedy over this and also frankly a sense of anger and questions as to how this was allowed to happen, how these monsters were allowed to inflict this horrible torture on this young defenceless boy.

“My view is very simple on this, we need to get to the bottom of how this happened and we need to ensure that those who have failed are accountable.

“But also I think anyone reflecting on those sentences yesterday thinks that they were too lenient and my intention is to try and refer this to the Unduly Lenient Sentencing scheme as soon as possible and I will be doing that on Monday morning.”

The AGO has 28 days from the date of sentence to review a case, assess whether it falls under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme, and make a decision as to whether to refer a sentence to the Court of Appeal.

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