UK - Arthur Labinjo Hughes, 6, killed, dad & friend arrested, June 2020

[Tinksx]

11:21JAMES CARTLEDGE
Hughes says he had a 'physical attraction' to Tustin 'to start with'
Mr Hankin: "Social services were dealing with a false story from the children, you witheld information about Arthur's injuries for whatever reason, and they were presented with a false picture weren't they?"

Hughes: "Yes."

Mr Hankin: "So the fact they didn't intervene is irrelevant isn't it?"

Hughes: "Yes."

Mr Hankin puts it to Hughes he was 'infatuated' with Emma Tustin.

Hughes: "Not at all times."

He says he had a physical attraction to her 'to start with'.

Mr Hankin: "You placed the relationship with Emma above all other considerations."

Hughes: "I didn't think I did."

Mr Hankin: "Your objective was to maintain and keep the relationship with Emma Tustin regardless of the consequences to Arthur."

Hughes: "No."

Murder trial over death of boy, six, resumes after covid alert - updates

 

[Tinksx]

11:37JAMES CARTLEDGE
Hughes says he was 'stuck in the middle' between Arthur and Tustin
Mr Hankin says the 'true reason' Hughes lied to social services was to 'protect Emma from the risk of losing her children'.

Hughes: "No not at all. I was told Arthur would be taken away from me as well."

He says Tustin was worried about losing her children, but his main concern was Arthur's eating.

Mr Hankin puts it to Hughes that he kept Arthur off school because he feared the authorities would become involved.

Hughes: "No."

Mr Hankin puts it to Hughes that he chose Tustin's 'side' over Arthur's.

Hughes: "I don't think I chose sides, I was stuck in the middle."

He accepts there 'were sides' but repeats he does not believe he sided with either.
Murder trial over death of boy, six, resumes after covid alert - updates

 

[ScottishSam]

11:19KEY EVENT
Hughes says Tustin 'coached' children into 'making up' stories about Arthur's injuries
Hughes says he felt the report to social services from his mother Joanne Hughes was 'an attack on my parenting by my own parents'.

Mr Hankin asks why Hughes never told social services about the bruises to Arthur.

Hughes: "I did not have a time period alone to explain those."

He states Arthur's 'situation was downplayed' adding: "I was always told nothing was wrong with him, he's fine."

Hughes says: "It's not that I didn't choose to (tell social services), I was not able to."

He adds he was 'scared' he would be accused of 'over-thinking'.

Mr Hankin asks who 'coached' the children into making up the story that Arthur's injuries were caused by play-fighting with boxing gloves with Tustin's son.

Hughes: "Emma Tustin. I felt uncomfortable. I wanted to tell the truth and go from there. I was told the children would be taken off us."

Murder trial over death of boy, six, resumes after covid alert - updates

I said this about the screwfix carpark - TH wanting to be alone with the SW. What a bloody coward

 

[ScottishSam]

It's always ' I wasn't allowed, Emma wouldn't let me, if I tried I was told no'.
There is NO excuse for not sticking up for a child, especially your own.

 

[Carroll520]

It's always ' I wasn't allowed, Emma wouldn't let me, if I tried I was told no'.
There is NO excuse for not sticking up for a child, especially your own.

Sure he was out of the house so much, surely he could have rang the social workers then, he wasnt glued to her side. Man up TH

 

[Noseyjosie]

It sounds like TH was seriously intimidated by ET. I've been in manipulative relationships and understand the fear of "setting off" the narcissist...you lose the ability to function properly and think for yourself. I once said to one of them that it was like walking across a room full of tin tacks, in the dark and blindfold. I'd actually resigned myself to the fact he would probably end up killing me. I look back and wonder how on earth I let that happen but at the time I was so absorbed in trying to not do anything to rock the boat I honestly didn't see what was happening

 

[Discosally]

It's always ' I wasn't allowed, Emma wouldn't let me, if I tried I was told no'.
There is NO excuse for not sticking up for a child, especially your own.

I agree, however I think the SW should have picked up on that and tried to arrange for him to be able to talk on his own, they are trained in coercive control. Also, of course, he had ample opportunity to call the SW on his own on one of his many shopping errands

 

[Tinksx]

11:53KEY EVENT
'You disowned your own son'
Mr Hankin: "You gave her permission to abuse Arthur."

Hughes: "I didn't give her permission. I said things, I was aware it would be left down to me. I wasn't aware what was happening in that house when I wasn't there. When I sent those messages I was not aware it would not be left to me."

Mr Hankin pulls up a picture Tustin sent to Hughes of Arthur looking sad. He asks him to explain his reply 'he's an absolute disgrace, that's not my son'.

The prosecutor states: "You disowned your own son."

Hughes: "No I didn't. I said things in the heat of the moment. I was always told by Emma, he said Emma had hit him. Then the video shows him pinching himself. I never disowned Arthur."

Mr Hankin asks him to explain what he meant by 'that's not my son'.

Hughes: "My son would never normally accuse someone of doing that. I always asked him to tell the truth."

Murder trial over death of boy, six, resumes after covid alert - updates

 

[Tinksx]

12:05JAMES CARTLEDGE
Hughes says he 'wouldn't have been there' had he known 'of her personality'
Mr Hankin puts it to Hughes he was 'lowering his value, making him worthless'.

Hughes: "Not intentionally."

Mr Hankin: "The objective was to make it clear to Emma whose side you were on."

Hughes: I never picked a side. At times I struggled. But I never picked a side."

Mr Hankin says Hughes was on Tustin's side when he supposedly 'covered' for her in his police interview.

Hughes: "I was not on her side. She was pregnant with our child. I wanted to protect that child. I had just lost one child, I didn't want to lose another one. The only way to protect that child was to protect Emma."

Mr Hankin says it was another example of Hughes choosing Emma's side over Arthur's, even after Arthur had died.

Hughes: "I was not on Emma's side."

The prosecutor asks why he makes so many references to 'hindsight' in his police interviews.

Hughes: "If I knew the kind of person Emma Tustin was I wouldn't have been there. I was not aware of her involvement with police. Not aware of her suicide attempt. Not aware she had other children. I was not aware of her personality."


Murder trial over death of boy, six, resumes after covid alert - updates

 

[Tinksx]

12:05JAMES CARTLEDGE
Hughes says he 'wouldn't have been there' had he known 'of her personality'

The prosecutor asks why he makes so many references to 'hindsight' in his police interviews.

Hughes: "If I knew the kind of person Emma Tustin was I wouldn't have been there. I was not aware of her involvement with police. Not aware of her suicide attempt. Not aware she had other children. I was not aware of her personality."


Murder trial over death of boy, six, resumes after covid alert - updates

SBM BBM

I believe this.

 

[Tinksx]

12:16JAMES CARTLEDGE
'Why did you not intervene to protect him?'
Mr Hankin: "You were and are a grown man. Arthur was your son, you had the responsibility to intervene to protect him didn't you? And the ability and capacity to intervene to protect him?"

Hughes confirms that is correct to which Mr Hankin asks: "Why did you not intervene to protect him?"

Hughes: "When I wanted to I was made to believe it wasn't as bad as what I was thinking. I was always told it's not normal but wasn't as severe as I expressed."

Mr Hankin asks Hughes 'what was in it for you' in the relationship with Tustin.

Hughes: "A stable family unit for Arthur."

Mr Hankin: "Even when you could see he was spending day after day standing next to a wall?"

Hughes: "I thought we would get through it and we would be a stable family unit. There were tough times. I thought we would get through it."

Murder trial over death of boy, six, resumes after covid alert - updates

 

[Noseyjosie]

Hughes: "I thought we would get through it and we would be a stable family unit. There were tough times. I thought we would get through it."

SBM

I actually get this. In a relationship with a narcissist you're always trying to get back to how it was in the beginning - when the narc was "love bombing" you and seemed to be everything you ever wanted in a partner. But you don't realise until you're out of the relationship that actually that part was never real and so you'll never get the "good" relationship back, no matter how hard you try

 

[ChloLo]

It sounds like TH was seriously intimidated by ET. I've been in manipulative relationships and understand the fear of "setting off" the narcissist...you lose the ability to function properly and think for yourself. I once said to one of them that it was like walking across a room full of tin tacks, in the dark and blindfold. I'd actually resigned myself to the fact he would probably end up killing me. I look back and wonder how on earth I let that happen but at the time I was so absorbed in trying to not do anything to rock the boat I honestly didn't see what was happening

My experience of an abusive/coercive relationship is the same. You’d do anything to avoid setting them off.

Social Workers should be trained in coercive control and abuse. In my experience it’s hit or miss as to if they are and if they actually understand it.

 

[ChloLo]

To follow on from the comments re TH having opportunities to contact the social worker on his own. He may have feared that ET would find out.

 

[Tinksx]

12:34KEY EVENT
Arthur told Hughes he was 'in danger with you, dad' but Hughes 'brushed it off'
Hughes admits he 'brushed it off' when Arthur told him he was 'in danger with you dad', because he did not think he was in danger.

He denies the shared purpose with Tustin was to maintain their relationship and 'ill-treat' Arthur.

Mr Hankin says Arthur's punishment 'could never end' or 'satisfy' his requirements.

Hughes: "I thought it could, yes."

He admits he tried standing facing the wall in his cell - to replicate Arthur's punishment - and could only manage it for around 20 minutes. Mr Hankin asks how he expected Arthur to do it for up to 14 hours a day.

Hughes: "All I wanted was what it was designed for, think about his actions, apologise and then move on."

Mr Hankin asks why he persisted with the punishment.

Hughes: "I suggested other things, bringing him in. I explained the difficulties I was faced with."

Murder trial over death of boy, six, resumes after covid alert - updates

 

[Tinksx]

12:36KEY EVENT
Hughes says he was being 'mentally abused' by Tustin
Mr Hankin: "What difficulties in the world could be more important than saving your child from that fate?"

Hughes: "Nothing looking back on it. At the time I was being mentally abused by Emma Tustin."

He says it would cause 'unnecessary arguments' with Tustin if he brought Arthur out of isolation and he would be 'given mixed messages' if he put him back after.

Mr Hankin: "In order to avoid arguments with Emma you watched over this abuse?"

Hughes: "I didn't watch over, it was reluctance."

Mr Hankin says it's 'not true' Hughes was being manipulated into abuse because he was 'gratuitous' and 'spiteful' towards him.

Hughes: "I never wanted to hurt Arthur."

Murder trial over death of boy, six, resumes after covid alert - updates

 

[Tinksx]

12:48KEY EVENT
'You are a short-tempered wicked man'
Mr Hankin: "You were being malevolent, wanting to do wicked things to him."

Hughes: "I didn't think I did, no. It was all, I was always told this is what he had done. Never did it off my own back."

Mr Hankin: "You were being wicked towards your own boy weren't you? You offered him a chance to go back to his nanny's then dashed his hopes."

Hughes: "Yes."

He denies he 'relished' seeing Arthur in distress.

Mr Hankin: "You weren't being manipulated, you are the perpetrator of Arthur's abuse."

Hughes: "No."

Mr Hankin: "You are a short-tempered wicked man."

Hughes: "No."

Murder trial over death of boy, six, resumes after covid alert - updates

 

[Tinksx]

12:54JAMES CARTLEDGE
Hughes says he was 'restricting' water to Arthur
Hughes accepts Arthur was 'constantly' asking for water. He disagrees he was 'denying' Arthur water but says he was 'restricting' it.

Mr Hankin puts it to him he had 'no interest' in whether Arthur ate or not.

Hughes: "I wanted Arthur to eat. I was not in charge of the food."

He says that giving Arthur something to eat when he asked for it would be 'seen as rewarding bad behaviour'.

Mr Hankin: "What's more important, to punish or to heal?"

Hughes: "To heal. It would have been seen as giving in to him."

Mr Hankin pulls up the autopsy images mapping the bruises to Arthur's body. He says he was 'hit over and over and over'.

Hughes: "Only once at a time, never multiple, not with me. I can't speak for Emma."

Mr Hankin puts it to Hughes that by his approach there would have been 129 separate incidents - equal to the amount of marks on his body.

Hughes: "Not all by discipline."

Murder trial over death of boy, six, resumes after covid alert - updates

 

[suebaloo]

This whole situation was just a recipe for disaster and I can only hope and pray that there is justice for little Arthur. The only thing to be thankful for in any of this is that there was cctv footage, videos and voice recordings documenting this catalogue of cruelty. ET must be kicking herself now! Without those things, I am sure these perps would get away with a slap on the wrist.

 

[Tinksx]

13:03KEY EVENT
'Anything goes at Cranmore Road with impunity'
Mr Hankin: "He was being terrorised."

Hughes: "Disciplined more than he should have, yes."

Mr Hankin: "Violence was a way of life for Arthur during lockdown."

Hughes: "After April. Start of May."

Mr Hankin puts it to Hughes he started assaulting Arthur in February. He refers to an incident where he picked Arthur up from school and Arthur's response was 'Oh no dad's here'.

Hughes: "I had started trying to introduce boundaries at that point. Told him more often about his behaviour. I didn't hit Arthur at that point."

Mr Hankin states Hughes 'knew it was safe to beat Arthur' in Tustin's presence.

Hughes: "I never beat Arthur."

Mr Hankin: "Anything goes at Cranmore Road with impunity. Without your permission Emma Tustin could not have assaulted Arthur."

Hughes denies that was the case.

Dad accused of murdering son branded a 'short-tempered, wicked man' - updates