Arthur Labinjo-Hughes' killer dad moved to new prison as officials deny attack

Arthur Labinjo-Hughes' killer dad has been moved to another prison, although Government officials have denied he was attacked.

Arthur, six, died in 2020 after being starved, tortured and poisoned with salt by his dad Thomas Hughes, 29, and stepmum Emma Tustin, 32.

Tustin was jailed for life with a minimum term of 29 years for murdering Arthur, while Hughes was sentenced to 21 years in prison for manslaughter.

Hughes is now said to have moved prisons, although not as the result of an inmate incident, Government officials said.

Responding to reports that Hughes had been attacked, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said this was "not true".

Thomas Hughes, Arthur's dad, was convicted of his son's manslaughter (PA)

Emma Tustin was convicted of killing her six-year-old stepson (PA)

An MoJ spokesperson told BirminghamLive: "We checked with the prison governor and there's been no assault or injuries."

A blog post which suggested Hughes had been beaten up and left in a critical condition at the start of December was also dismissed as a "rumour" by the MoJ.

Hughes could soon be handed further time in prison amid growing pressure for his sentence to be lengthened.

The Attorney General has referred the "lenient" sentences of both Hughes and Tustin to the Court of Appeal.

She announced: “This is an extremely upsetting and disturbing case, involving a clearly vulnerable young child.

Arthur was poisoned with salt and tortured by his dad and stepmum (PA)

His mother's family has been given permission to bury his body (PA)

“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.”

Arthur was fatally injured by Tustin on June 16 2020 and left with an unsurvivable brain injury.

His death followed months of child cruelty, in which he was routinely beaten, starved, given salt-laced meals and made to stand up for 14 hours a day.

Arthur's mum Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow, who is currently serving a prison sentence for murdering her boyfriend Gary Cunningham, was given permission to bury her son last month.

His body was released to her side of the family after remaining in the mortuary 16 months after the post-mortem was carried out.