The family of a six-year-old boy tragically murdered by his stepmum wants all social workers to wear bodycams to prevent the tragedy repeating itself.
The death of little Arthur Labinjo-Hughes rocked the nation after horrific details emerged of his final months.
He suffered horrific abuse and torture and was ultimately killed at a home in Solihull, Birmingham at the hands of his twisted step-mum and dad.
Emma Tustin was convicted of murder and jailed a year ago today and a jury found the boy’s dad, Thomas Hughes, guilty of manslaughter.
Hughes was handed 21 years for manslaughter before it was appealed for being too lenient and Tustin was jailed for life with a minimum term of 29 years at Coventry Crown Court, BirminghamLive reported.
On the one year anniversary of the convictions, Arthur’s cousin Bernie Dixon has started a campaign to get social workers to wear bodycams just like the police do, in an effort to prevent more such cases.
Social workers saw Arthur just two months before he died after a sadistic campaign of torture.
The hope of the campaign is that having the extra evidence the bodycams give would allow better reviews of home visits and would protect more vulnerable children.
An inspection of children's care services locally launched following Arthur's death, found that children in the area were at significant risk due to failings and called for urgent action.
The report concluded that children were facing unknown risks in their own homes and inspectors were concerned by incomplete police records that left children 'at risk of significant harm'.
They saw examples of separate records being held for the same person, as their name had been spelt incorrectly, and another instance where children had not been linked to family relatives who could pose a risk to them.
"This means that when officers and staff research 'Connect' (the police record system) they may miss important information, potentially leaving children at risk of significant harm," the report says.
Bernie's campaign has been backed by Arthur’s mum, Olivia Labinjo-Halcorw, who is currently in jail serving time for the manslaughter of boyfriend Gary Cunningham - she was in jail at the time of her son’s death in June 2020.
Bernie set up the charity Arthur's Angels to push for change after his death and said the youngster had been ‘forgotten’ as not enough was being done by those tasked with the care of vulnerable kids.
Bernie said: "I have the full support of Madeline [Arthur's grandmother] and Olivia. They too would like a law in Arthur's name.
"They are really behind the body cams. Madeline is on the [ Facebook ] page and very much actively involved.
"I write to Olivia every week and let her know what we've donated or what's been donated to us. I was informing her every step of the way about the [charity single set to be released to honour Arthur].
"We recently had a policewoman who wrote a poem. I sent it into Olivia and she really loved it. There's been so much love and so much positivity created for Arthur."
A petition set up by the charity has almost 5,000 signatures. It reads: "Arthur's Angels CIO are making a petition to bring change [and] have cases reviewed from home visits done by just one social worker. We believe with the help of bodycams, more reviews can be done and [fewer] children may go unseen.
"Home visits from social services [are] the most crucial time to save a child in danger. Most visits are announced so many things can be covered up in the visit [and] small details can be missed or overlooked. With the help of bodycams, the visit can be looked at again from a different angle to spot things not seen by a social worker on a visit.
"Most of the time when things are missed and tragic circumstances happen, the focus is on the one social worker who made the visit ... with body cams the footage can be reviewed by a group of people and maybe one individual in that group will spot something that was missed and save a child's life."
On June 16, 2020, Arthur suffered a fatal head injury at the hands of Tustin after she beat him. Then, instead of rushing to call 999 she got her mobile phone to snap a photo of the dying tot and called Hughes first.
Then, 12 minutes later, she finally called 999 but lied and told police Arthur had banged his head. The boy died the following day.
You can sign the petition here.
