After allegedly being attacked and beaten by fellow inmates, a stepmother found guilty today of the murder of a 6-year old boy.
Emma Tustin (32) killed Arthur Labinjo Hughes by hitting him repeatedly on the hard floor. Thomas Hughes (29), had also starved her son, and she poisoned him with salt. Tustin took a photo of Arthur as he was dying in the corridor after she killed him.
Tustin was today convicted of murdering Arthur on June 17, 2020, during the Covid lockdown. Hughes was also found guilty by manslaughter but cleared of murder for encouraging the killing. She sent Tustin a message 18 hours before her fatal attack in which she requested that she ‘just end’ him.
Tustin, 29-year-old Hughes inflicted a “cruel and systemic” campaign against Arthur. They made him stand for 14 hours per day and deprived him of food, water, and poisoned him with salt.
Today, we can see that it is. Already while on HMP Peterborough remand Tustin was attacked by other inmates, who “threw salt” at her. Source from the criminal justice system.
It was discovered that Tustin was hospitalized after taking an overdose.
Emma Tustin has already been attacked by inmates ‘throwing salt’ at her after she was today convicted of murdering Arthur Labinjo-Hughes on June 17, 2020
HMP Peterborough spoke out about Tustin’s alleged attack. A spokesperson said, “We don’t comment upon individual prisoners.”
Tustin was pre-trial in April 2021. Her barrister stated that her client had received’significant threats and substantial threats’. However, it’s not clear if they were at the same prison.
Mary Prior QC, speaking at the hearing held on April 15, stated: “She has suffered a serious deterioration of her mental health.”
“She has significant problems because she is being housed in an environment that does not allow her to receive medication. She is also being threatened with violence and receiving real and serious threats.
Prior claimed that Tustin’s legal team did everything possible to press the prison authorities for a ‘clarification’ in order to protect their client’s wellbeing and health, which included writing to the governor.
She also said that there are weekly conferences, and almost all of them consist of an overworked young lady receiving serious and significant threats as well as minimal medication.
After Thomas Hughes and Tustin starved their son, Tustin (32), killed Arthur Labinjo Hughes by repeatedly hitting his head against a hard surface and then poisoning him with salt.
Hughes was found guilty by manslaughter, but not murder. He encouraged the killing and sent a message to Tustin just 18 hours prior to the attack telling her to ‘just end him.’
Ms. Prior informed the Recorder for Birmingham Judge Melbourne Inman (QC) that she believed it was necessary to state it openly because “nothing has changed”.
Judge Inman stated that the prison estate was very capable of maintaining treatment and medication for their prisoners.
“All that I have to say is: If there are any concerns, please inform the court. We can also make inquiries if required.
“This isn’t meant to criticize anyone but, evidently, if any matters of concern were raised with the Court, we will do all we can to help – make sure they get resolved.”
Other news: It was announced on Thursday that Tustin had been unable to continue her trial for several days due to an overdose. She was taken to the hospital and sent home.
Emma Tustin (32), swallowed painkillers that she apparently had hidden in her bra. Last Monday, she was removed from her Coventry Crown Court cell and brought to the hospital. She remained there until Thursday.
MailOnline was told by a source that the case was delayed for three days due to Tustin’s overdose on painkillers. Last Monday, she took a lot of painkillers from one of her court cells. As he testified, she had spent the morning at the dock with her accomplice.
A courtroom view of Hughes and Tustin, shortly before Hughes was shot to death.
“She admitted to her lawyer about her actions and an ambulance was called to transport her to the hospital. The ambulance took her from Coventry Crown Court to the hospital. She was conscious.
“It looks like she might have received pills from the prison over a period of time, but instead of taking them, she saved them up and kept them in her bra,”
Tustin and Hughes conducted a terrible ‘campaign to cruelty’ which included torture against Arthur. Arthur was kept in isolation, fed salt-laced foods, and dehydrated.
Arthur was placed in the care of his father after Olivia Labinjo Halcrow murdered Gary Cunningham (29), by stabbing him twelve times with a kitchen knives in a drunken attack.
Hughes met Tustin (mother-of-four) online. The couple then moved into Arthur’s home in Solihull, West Midlands in March 2020 after the government declared a nationwide shutdown.
Madeleine Halcrow stated that Tustin was obsessed with the notion that Thomas would return to Olivia and that Olivia could only be freed if she got rid of Arthur.
Tustin was the mother of two children who were taken in care after a suicide attempt. She complained repeatedly that Arthur’s behavior during confinement made it difficult for her to cope and asked Hughes to allow him to return home to his grandparents.
Tustin was a happy, healthy boy who moved in at the beginning of the national lockdown, March 2020. However, a witness said that he appeared ‘broken’ three months before his death.
It was also revealed that Tustin was hospitalized after taking an overdose.
Tustin was convicted of two counts child cruelty in the Coventry trial. These included three attacks on the boy, as well as making the boy sit and stand for 14 hours each day in the hallway.
She made 200 recordings of Arthur crying, moaning, and pleading guilty to sending them to Hughes to show his ‘naughty’ behavior while he was away.
Some of the extracts were played before the court. One in which the boy says ‘no one loves me’ and another where he says ‘nobody’s going to feed me’.
Hughes had testified to Tustin’s mental abuse and that he ‘gaslighted him’ into following the discipline regime. However, he also admitted lying about it to the school staff, who were monitoring Arthur’s progress at the time of the Covid lockdown.
He stated that he previously believed he placed their relationship over the welfare of his son.
Arthur suffered 130 different injuries, according to tests later.
Tustin has admitted being cruel to Arthur in certain instances and was pregnant at that time with Hughes’ unborn child. Tustin has stated she is ‘disgusted’ and embarrassed by the admissions.
She claimed Arthur’s head injury was self-inflicted and that he had fallen down the stairs in her hallway.
She stated that even though medical professionals had determined Arthur died from head trauma, it didn’t mean that this was true.