Arthur Labinjo-Hughes *Very upsetting*

[HolidayHelper]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-59475076

Poor little boy. So utterly, utterly failed. He was TELLING figures of authority what was happening and nobody listened. How come whenever something like this happens they always roll out 'Lessons Will Be Learned'... but then they're not, in just goes and happens again? It makes me so fucking angry. I know there aren't enough foster carers, I know there's not enough money, but it was OBVIOUS what would happen in this case and nobody did a damn thing.

I wish and wish I was in a position to foster vulnerable children. Arthur could have had a completely different outcome if he could have been placed witha loving family.

@ginghamstarfish

It's actually insulting to the public that the courts still use the term 'life' sentence, when it clearly does not mean that anymore. These people will still be of an age to carry on abuse and torture when they get out.

The courts have no choice. The law on murder requires the judge to pass a life sentence and set a minimum term. For this particular case the law sets a starting point of 15 years for the minimum term. The judge has therefore gone for almost double the minimum term for Tustin. Note that this is only a minimum term. It does not mean she will be released after 29 years. All it means is that she can apply for parole after 29 years. The parole board will only release her if they believe she will not re-offend. If she is released, she will be on licence for the rest of her life, which means she can be sent back to prison without a further trial or conviction if she is thought to be at risk of re-offending.

I am not claiming the system is perfect. The parole board get it wrong both ways - releasing prisoners who go on to re-offend and refusing to release prisoners who are not a threat. But Tustin is going to be in jail until she is at least 61, possibly longer.

But what can we do to stop it happening to another poor, poor child?!

Thousands and thousands of children have not returned to school after lockdown. What are schools, social services and the department of education doing about those children who could be at risk, abused or just not getting a basic education. It is for some children their happy place, going to school. They get a hot meal. They get an education.

How was it acceptable that Arthur stopped going to school? How? How many other children are not in education?

It's a time bomb. And We do not have time.

I am totally heartbroken at the horror of what that poor, poor little boy
Endured at the hands of these 2 evil perpetrators.
If ever there was a case to bring back the death penalty, this is it.And what about social services?were they blind?they too deserve to be arrested.,for walking past a little boy, who was crying out for help.I hope now these 2 evil tormentors are in prison, let’s hope it crosses someone’s mind to make their life Hell on earth.
May God love and protect you little one, and may you rest in peace.

This story has completely broke my heart. Lockdown would have created many opportunities for people to get away with such cruel acts. Lockdown protected us from one thing but put people in danger of so much more. Its horrific. He was completely failed and although things can't always be prevented in this case they really could have been.

I have been thinking of Arthur the last few days. How much I wish I could give him the love and care he deserved. I'm sure we all feel the same. It's unimaginable how anyone could inflict so much cruelty onto a human being. Especially a defenseless tiny little boy. How could they stomach the emotional pain he was in. Let alone the physical. Absolutely evil through and through. It reminds me of the James Bulgars case years ago. It will forever stay with me and I'll always be angry for these innocent sweet children who's lives are snatched away so cruelly. It's the saddest thing.

The worst thing imo is that there absolutely IS enough money, it just isn't allocated to where it is most needed.

The lives of children and women are not valued in our society. If men were being killed by women at the rate that women were murdered by men and children were murdered by step parents, we would see change.

I think lock-down will have exacerbated a lot of horrors.

Finally watched some of the videos. Watched how she was defending him self and slagging him off even after she had killed him. So sad he became a scapegoat in their family.

There is so much wrong in the system which allows toxic parents/families to get away with this awfulness. In a previous role I had to work very closely with children's safeguarding and make lots of referrals. Most of them were rejected/just a phone call/ one visit and closed. I knew the children in those families were experiencing emotional abuse, I put referrals in over and over and over again for the same families until they accepted them. The families were experts in disguised compliance and often the social workers (who were usually in their knees with caseload and workload pressures) would either close as quickly as possible or often become enmeshed in the families toxic system.

"Engagement" with the families is prioritised above everything, including the safety of the child(ten). You had to ensure you had a "relationship" with the family and couldn't jeapordise it any way. This misguided focus on keeping children with families above all else is wrong and harmful. Several children's charities have been pointing this out for years. The children need removing into alternative care earlier and more swiftly.
Home education needs to be far more closely monitored, and professionals need to physically lay eyes on home educated children on a regular basis.

There were a lot of good social workers out there. Sadly they often became burnt out very quickly, the good ones would go traveling/change profession or go and work in a mental health team or similar as child protection too horrific.

There's a "scatter gun" approach these days with children's services, lots of referrals made to multiple other projects/agencies which affects cohesion and communication. A different person/service for every issue. Toxic parents can easily manipulate this.
Lockdown no doubt exacerbated these issues but they've been around for years.

Referring professionals and agencies treated the safeguarding referral form as a tick box exercise. Often with only scant/inadequate info, they needed filling in carefully with a decent amount of detail but certainly in some areas this never happened.

When I first heard about this story my first thought was it could have easily been me when I was that age as I was beaten by my brother's dad at exactly the same age because he believed I was acting up when the truth was i was made to stay out of the way while he, my brother and my mum were playing games and my mum never intervened. Sometimes she would watch him as he did it. He said once to his sister that I needed toughening up because I was a wimp. Then he threatened to kill me not long after he pushed me too hard on a swing and I landed a few feet from it on my back.

I got out as I begged mum to let me live my nanna and she didn't take much persuading. If I hadn't believed my life was at risk who knows what would've happened. And that is all I can think of. That and the misery of that poor, defenceless little boy, that despite having a voice didn't get heard by those who should have listened and removed him no excuses allowed.

There is always talk about lessons being learned and there never will be. Not as long as this government reign - or maybe even other governments as those opposing the Cons aren't up to the task of meding the wrongs and ills either.

There needs to be a social uprising - not violently but more voices need to be speaking up so the government know we are here, we care and we will NOT LET ANYMORE CHILDREN SUFFER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The red tape is meant to be safeguarding children but all it is doing is causing more harm.

If our voices of disgust and anger are not heard then more and more children will live to be abused and many of them will not make it out alive. And that will be even more an injustice to little Arthur than what he has already suffered at the hands of those monsters!

So, let us use our voices for good. Sadness is a human emotion but dwelling on his death won't bring him back. It is time to get angry with those who run this country - maybe even politicians in general and demand them to take this seriously and how as a society we will not let it rest until social care is restored and funded properly.

Let's fight for a future for all those vulnerable to the hands of monsters!

@Needspace21

Finally watched some of the videos. Watched how she was defending him self and slagging him off even after she had killed him. So sad he became a scapegoat in their family.

The video of her talking to the policeman beggared belief. The dad at least looked a bit shocked but it was as if she was casually chatting to a friend about a misbehaving child, not talking about a child she'd just killed.

By far the most sickening, hell on earth case I've ever heard. Has affected myself, my Mom, my colleagues, my friends, my 16yr old niece, my Dad - every time my 5yr old son so much as whimpers my Dad rushes to him saying please don't cry, I hate it when you cry. It has touched and moved the lives and hearts of the world let alone the nation and people who have commented on here (maybe not this actual thread, I'm not sure, but definitely this topic on this site) undermining and downplaying people's feelings, passing them off as 'drivel' and accusing people of being 'overly invested' need a serious rain check. A child was tortured to death. Is that not enough to cause a very serious public outcry? Wow.
My energy is 100% focused on what is going to be done going forward. And helping anyone who is suffering from this. Even if that means just reading about people's feelings and VALIDATING them. My god, if there was ever a time people's feelings needed to be validated it is now. The majority of us are all feeling and experiencing the same. The emotions are real and they are damn justified. Let's channel this emotion into change

JLee123 agree with you 1000%

Well said, I can't stop thinking about it and wishing I could do something. A news story has not affected me this badly before. I live 7 mike's away from where Arthur should have been having a loving fun childhood. So sad I have 2 boys of my own. My own childhood wasn't a happy one, emotional abuse and neglect. I left as soon as I could at 18. I don't know if it is this or being a mum.of 2 young boys, just so saddened. Wish I could bring Arthur back.

@JLee123 thank you for those words, agree 100% and yes, reading others reactions is keeping me sane. i cant get it out of my mind, and still having sleepless nights imagining alternative endings. The "noone loves me" before the final day is what has gotten to me most. People wanting emotions to be swept under the carpet and not be dwelled on can do so themselves but are missing the point, as they are a catalyst for change. What does it say about us as a society if we should not feel or show feelings for an innocent murdered child and support each other for this trauma?

@Phoenixwings1989 I am so sorry to read your story. It makes one wonder how many other children's lives are a living hell and cannot escape...where i live who else is going through this, how can we know...

@Humpreydowny
I feel exactly the same, I honestly have not been able to function properly since reading about this sweet, innocent boy. What you wrote really struck a chord with me, "having sleepless nights, imagining alternative endings". I know he is dead, yet it feels as though he is still there and I desperately want for him to be saved, for him to have someone's arms around him, embracing his spirit with love.

@jlee123
Your post is much appreciated as there are a lot of people on these threads telling others what they can or cannot feel, that they can't feel broken or severely affected because they aren't "family".

@PerpetualStudent

I can’t stop thinking about this, the more background I see about the case (metro.co.uk/2021/12/03/arthur-labinjo-hughes-mum-pays-tribute-to-murdered-son-from-prison-cell-15708220/) the more I can’t comprehend how social services weren’t ALREADY fully involved in Arthur’s life well before he went to live with his Dad and that woman? Such an awful, complex situation with drink and drugs and violence, then he loses his mum to a prison sentence - how was he not having support around him just for this alone? It shouldn’t have been down to family members to be reporting their concerns - the fact that they did, and were ignored is another level of appalling - but social services etc should have already had this poor little boy on their radar.

You just have to conclude social care in this country is in a mess - where is the humanity and the continuity of care?

I can only triangulate this with my own experiences of maternity care, mental health care and community health care and conclude that, for all the valiant heroes fighting to do good in a broken system, there are also a lot of officious jobsworths in social care who quite enjoy holding power over vulnerable people and gate-keeping services.

The system needs to fundamentally change. Our priorities as a society are so out of whack - if we can’t care for each other and the planet, what can we hope to offer even our own loved and supported children as a future, never mind the most vulnerable ones?

apparentely they told him his mum had gone away to work in the army!!!

The sentences for Tustin & Hughes have been referred to the Court of Appeal for being too lenient.

I hope they get their sentences extended. I still think about that poor little boy at least once a day. I’m firmly anti death penalty but this pair (and Star Hobson’s murderers) have almost pushed me over the edge to change my opinion on the matter.

news.sky.com/story/arthur-labinjo-hughes-sentences-for-boys-father-and-stepmother-referred-for-being-too-lenient-12506840

Totally agree.
I also think about Arthur.

hope they are scared abit while waiting to hear their update on sentencing.