Arthur Labinjo-Hughes: Father cut up shirts as punishment

A father accused of murdering his six-year-old son cut up two of his football shirts in front of him as a punishment, a court heard.

Thomas Hughes told a jury it had left his son, Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, "visibly upset".

His partner Emma Tustin, 32, is accused of fatally harming Arthur at her home in Solihull, leaving him with an "unsurvivable" brain injury.

Both Mr Hughes and Ms Tustin deny murder and child cruelty charges.

Coventry Crown Court has previously heard the pair forced the six-year-old to eat salt-laced meals and subjected him to months of abuse likened to "torture".

Ms Tustin has previously claimed that Arthur's fatal head injury was self-inflicted.

Giving evidence in his defence on Friday, Mr Hughes was asked about events prior to his son's death at the property on Cranmore Road, on 16 June 2020.

Mary Prior QC, representing Ms Tustin, asked the 29-year-old about cutting up the Birmingham City shirts, after it was claimed by his partner that Arthur had ripped up two photographs around April or May, 2020.

Mr Hughes told the jury he did not see his son rip up the pictures but did punish Arthur for it, by cutting up two football shirts in front of him.

When Ms Prior asked him: "Do you agree that's nasty and cruel":[]}