Scots grandad of murdered six-year-old says jail term 'too lenient'

The grandfather of a six-year-old boy who was murdered by his step-mother has hit out the sentencing that he calls “too lenient”.

Arthur Labinjo-Hughes was left with a fatal brain injury while in the care of 32-year-old Emma Tustin in June last year.

Tustin, 32, was sentenced to 29-years in prison on Friday and her partner, Arthur’s father Thomas Hughes was handed a 21-year sentence for his part in the killing.

Hughes, 29, and his 32-year-old partner abused the schoolboy who was starved, poisoned and beaten until his death.

Peter Halcrow has called Hughes’ sentence for manslaughter “concerning” and said his grandson had “his whole life in front of him.”

The 61-year-old, from Dunkeld in Perthshire, said: “I was a bit concerned about Tom’s sentence, because how a father can ignore his son, how a father can put a woman above his son. He was a contributing factor, his sentence was a bit too lenient.”

Mr Halcrow was left distraught after hearing what the youngster had suffered at the hands of the couple.

He said: “It completely destroyed. I had no idea what he was going through, it just completely destroyed me.

“I think Tom came from a good family, and that his parents were trying to say something’s going wrong, something’s wrong, I’ve only met them briefly at Arthur’s christening.

“It’s just a real tragedy.

“Arthur was only six, he has his whole life in front of him”