The sentences given to Arthur Labinjo-Hughes’ killers were too lenient, the attorney general says.
Image source, Family
The jail sentences given to Arthur Labinjo-Hughes’ killers were too lenient, the attorney general says.
The boy’s stepmother Emma Tustin was jailed for at least 29 years for murder and his father Thomas Hughes received 21 years for manslaughter.
Suella Braverman said the sentences had been referred to the Court of Appeal as she believed they were “too low”.
Six-year-old Arthur died from an unsurvivable brain injury after being tortured and poisoned.
A date for the court hearing is yet to be set.
The couple’s trial heard Arthur had been poisoned with salt, subjected to regular beatings, denied food and drink and made to stand for hours alone in the hallway of the house in Solihull, West Midlands.
Ms Braverman said: “Emma Tustin and Thomas Hughes grossly abused their position of trust and subjected an innocent child, who they should have been protecting, to continued emotional and physical abuse.
“I understand how distressing the public have found this case, but it is my job to decide if a sentence appears to be unduly lenient based on the facts of the case.
“I have carefully considered the details of this case, and I have decided to refer the sentences to the Court of Appeal as I believe them to be too low.”