Authorities in England failed to save the life of an abused child.

political analyst · 03-12-2021 2:38pm #1

https://news.sky.com/story/arthur-labinjo-hughes-father-and-girlfriend-handed-life-sentences-for-killing-of-six-year-old-boy-12485090

A photo of a bruise on the victim was taken by the victim's grandmother, who warned the authorities about the horror that was inflicted on the boy. However, no action was taken by the authorities to protect the child.

How could police and social workers not think that the photo of the bruise, which can be seen in the article above, was proof of a crime being committed against the child?

Such failure has happened in England time and time again in the past 3 decades. The cynical view may be that social services in England have been too busy taking the children of innocent parents into care (Just look-up forced adoption on Google) to rescue actual victims.

03-12-2021 3:38pm

This case has sickened me to my stomach. It's stuck in my head. The most shocking and twisted crime since Jamie Bulger. I really hope they both get walloped around in prison. Especially her.

Gatling · 03-12-2021 3:44pm

@political analyst the same would happen here ,one photograph of a bruise doesn't always happen to be abuse ,

I have had several dealing with tusla here to report concerns about a child at risk only to be told unless they witness an incident or the gardai they cannot act ,this was an absolutely horrific case ,that could have easily been prevented ,

Be right back · 03-12-2021 3:51pm

The coward wouldn't leave her cell to hear her sentence and has complained about inmates throwing salt at her. Hopefully she will never get out.

Fandymo · 03-12-2021 3:58pm

Something similar happened here not so long ago, happened in my town.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-40732425.html

03-12-2021 4:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118263798#Comment_118263798

I read something that the father would target "pressure points" which would obviously cause maximum pain with no bruising.

The video of the kid on his own saying "nobody loves me, nobody is going to feed me" is the most heartbreaking thing I've ever seen.

In a way I am glad that he no longer needs to carry that around with him.

Be right back · 03-12-2021 4:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118263898#Comment_118263898

Dreadful stuff. The poor child had a very difficult start from the very beginning.

Jequ0n · 03-12-2021 4:14pm

It’s easy to judge the social workers without having adequate information at hand. I don’t even want to imagine how their workload increased with lockdown and people going crazy.

Immortal Starlight · 03-12-2021 5:22pm

Absolutely horrific. What a terrible heartbreaking life that little Arthur was forced to endure. Let down by the very people that should have loved him more than anyone else in the world. Two sick evil twisted bastards that hopefully will suffer every day of the rest of their disgusting lives. At least little Arthur is free of them now. May he Rest In Peace.

BanditLuke · 03-12-2021 5:31pm

After serving on a jury here in a case about a mother who abused her daughter and pimped her out to men from the ages of 9-12 nothing surprises me when it comes to the cruelty of the human species. There should be a special place in hell for these people.

Claw Hammer · 03-12-2021 5:35pm

I blame the parents!

DarkJager21 · 03-12-2021 5:40pm

A sickening story to read, those 2 subhuman scum do not deserve jail sentences - they should be beaten to death as slow as possible. Hopefully they will never see the outside of prison again.

03-12-2021 5:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118263898#Comment_118263898

I read about it but just couldn't watch it.

03-12-2021 5:46pm

On Loose Women of all things one of them defended the social workers pretty well. They're faced with massive workloads and some extreme cases. They're dealing with weapons, drug abuse, all that good ****. If they visit a house that's clean and tidy and the parents are friendly and the kid seems ok then it's a case that is low-priority.

Podge_irl · 03-12-2021 6:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118263798#Comment_118263798

I have difficulty believing that they have to witness an incident to be able to act. The central tenant of child abuse is that it happens at home. The entire agency would be pointless if that was a factor.

I can imagine someone may have said that, but I don't believe that its true.

political analyst · 03-12-2021 6:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118263861#Comment_118263861

The difference is that we don't know whether people in authority suspected there was something wrong in the family in your area.

Perseverance The Second · 03-12-2021 7:46pm

It's not that surprising when you remember how rampant grooming gangs are across numerous different swathes of British society.

It would be more surprising if they were successful at stopping child abuse at this point.

Ellie2008 · 03-12-2021 8:06pm

An earlier post refers to social workers taking kids off “innocent” parents. It seems in a way that they are damned if they do or don’t.

This case is horrific. I’m normally fairly moderate about prison sentences but the pair of them tortured that poor child for months on end. Both of them are despicable & the father have gotten the same sentence - life, no parole. I believe in second chances but not for torturing children. I understand that abuse & neglect can happen when parents can’t cope but this is another level. The father should have given his son to his grandparents who seemed to care about him. Why he left him in a house where he was hated is beyond me.

That video is unreal a 6 year old knowing full well that he was unloved. It’s overwhelming thinking about how alone he must have felt. Most kids get up in the morning surrounded by their toys running to get breakfast. And the poor little fellow telling teachers his father was going to kill him, & all the insecurity he felt when his mother went to prison & his father reacted to it by saying he was too babyish.

I had a baby in Covid who only saw a public health nurse in his first weeks, all the normal checks are gone. I feel dread thinking about all the child abuse that isn’t being picked up.

political analyst · 03-12-2021 9:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118265424#Comment_118265424

My point was that the cynical view may be that social services are too busy taking children away from innocent parents. In other words, I was saying that it's a perception - not necessarily that it's true. Regarding false accusations, look at the following case:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9130447/Happy-Birthday-darling-Parents-three-children-taken-care-trace-eldest-turns-21.html

To add to my point, why is it that social services have failed to take children (e.g. Baby Peter, Daniel Pelka) away from actually abusive parents in so many cases in England? Are social workers being influences by what I'd describe as 'reverse snobbery', meaning they're taking children away from respectable (middle-class in many cases) parents while letting bad parents like Tracey Connelly and the excuse for a man who was supposed to be Arthur's dad off the hook?

Mike Murdock · 03-12-2021 9:23pm

And just like the Baby P case, Social Services in the UK will bleat on and on that "lessons will be learned".

Until the next time.

blueser · 03-12-2021 9:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058221035/authorities-in-england-failed-to-save-the-life-of-an-abused-child

I cried when I read the details of that case. That poor little lad, treated like that by his dad and his "new mummy". His plaintive cries that "no one loves me" and "no one feeds me" are gut wrenching. He was six years old. Let that sink in for a few seconds. Six years old. Well; wherever he is now, I hope he's at peace and happy knowing that his wretched time on this planet is over. I've read on social media that the stepmother has been attacked with salt by fellow inmates. Now, I've heard the old adage about "an eye for an eye causes the world to go blind" and that vigilantism has no place in an ideal world. Sorry, but this sort of case proves that we don't have an ideal world. She had it coming, and I hope it's just the start.

03-12-2021 11:12pm

Poor kid. Think his birthmam is a convicted killer too

political analyst · 03-12-2021 11:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118266624#Comment_118266624

Indeed.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/who-olivia-labinjo-halcrow-killer-22347822

03-12-2021 11:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118265845#Comment_118265845

No. Nothing like that. Social services job is to keep families together and help them stay together unless it cannot happen.

This case is terrible, devastating and horrendous. But it's nothing to do with social status, race or anything else. It's a terrible failure of systems. Unfortunately, it does sometimes happen 😔

anewme · 04-12-2021 10:30am

I've been following this case for a few weeks now. It's one of the worst things I have ever heard about. The lonliness, the isolation, the despair, the downright torture that Arthur endured at the hands of those monsters is hard to comprehend.

Feed a slurry of salt, deprived water, beaten, not allowed sleep, made to stand in the hall for hours, his beloved Football shirt cut up in front of him, amongst some of the mental and physical abuse lashed out on the little lad daily.

There are numerous failings involved here, mainly by Social Services and also the Police. The brother of the Father reported his concerns and went to the house and the Police told him if he turned up again he would be arrested for breaking Covid laws.

Arthur's Mother, in jail for stabbing her partner, was a mentally ill alcoholic, despite being privately educated with a bright future. Yet, the photos of Arthur in her care, show a very different child that the sad photos we see in the press. Hughes Mother believes this would never have happened if he had not met Tustin, that makes it even worse in my view, a pathetic shell of a man (not a man).

C4 news covered the story once they were found guilty and visited the home. One of the saddest things was that someone had made a very large poster and put it on the front of the house "You are loved Arthur".

Nothing sadder than the death of a child, worse if it is murder. That is why there is still such revulsion at the murder of James (not Jamie) Bulger and Holly and Jessica from Soham. However, this little boy was murdered by the very person (his Father) entrusted to care for him.

Rot in Hell Hughes and Tustin. May they never have a days peace, in this life, or the next (if it exists)

I

04-12-2021 11:00am

Horrific and heinous crime. The little man never stood a change. All the pictures I see of him are of him smiling from ear to ear. He looked happy with his father at a point (the picture of him in the Birmingham city jersey comes to my mind, father and son enjoying the football) and this evil wench must have parked herself in the fathers head and he failed to do his duty to protect his son and in fact got involved in the abuse. As another poster pointed out, not a real man but a weak shell of an excuse for a man.

It beggers belief such evil exists. Authorities and civil servants abdicating their responsibilities have a lot to answer for. We have the same type here.

Xander10 · 04-12-2021 11:06am

Is it true, that bitch Tustin brought up two children of her own in the house in a fairly normal manner?

Be right back · 04-12-2021 5:35pm

Gone but not forgotten. Lovely gesture.

TooTired123 · 04-12-2021 5:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118267855#Comment_118267855

She’d had 2 serious suicide attempts. Threw herself from a roof each time. Her children were taken into care at 1 stage but she got them back. She should never have been allowed to be around children. Something wrong with him too. The girl he had Arthur with is in prison for murder, then he just moved on to the next psychopathic evil bitch.

political analyst · 04-12-2021 11:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118269354#Comment_118269354

Arthur's mother, Olivia, was found guilty of manslaughter and sentence to 11 years in prison.

political analyst · 05-12-2021 3:19am

The following article contains references to the killings of children who were known to social services in Britain since 1944.

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2007/01/10/what-have-we-learned-child-death-scandals-since-1944/

Wanderer78 · 05-12-2021 7:11am

extraordinary disturbing story, another state in serious trouble!

Be right back · 06-12-2021 7:00pm

Arthur is finally going to be laid to rest.

06-12-2021 7:41pm

Any word of either of them getting a hiding in prison? I hope their time there is one long road of fear and misery.

Yurt2 · 06-12-2021 7:49pm

This case really shook me. The video of the poor kid repeating 'nobody loves me' on that video. I hope he finds joy in heaven as he was robbed of it in life.

Appalling crime of the worst kind.