Arthur Labinjo-Hughes was tortured and killed by his father and stepmother in June 2020, an incident that shook up the entire country of England. The murderers were finally sentenced to lifetime imprisonment on December 3, and to commemorate the justice served to the young boy, football clubs across the country paid tribute to the kid with banners and applause.
The 6-year-old died of an unsurvivable brain injury which he suffered at the hands of his stepmother Emma Tustin, and this came after a series of torturous abuse from her and his father Thomas Hughes in Solihull last year. Tustin was jailed for a minimum of 29 years for child cruelty and murder, whilst Hughes was sentenced to a minimum of 21 years for manslaughter.
Hailing from Birmingham, the little boy was a fan of Birmingham City, and it was being reported that his father had torn two of his club jerseys right in front of him, which made the kid very upset. Distressing audio footage of the kid saying “No one loves me” and “No one is going to feed me” in the lead up to his death had brought tears all across the country.
From Birmingham City, West Ham, Wolverhampton to Liverpool, Chelsea and plenty of other clubs paid tribute to the kid whose life was tragically cut short. The banners of “We love you, Arthur” were displayed in pretty much every stadium, and minute applause was given to the kid around the sixth minute across nearly every stadium in England.
Coventry City encouraged its fans to take part in the applause during its second division game against West Brom, whilst the same was done at the Molineux during the Wolves-Liverpool fixture.
“This cruel and inhuman treatment of Arthur was a deliberate decision by you to brush off his cries for help as naughtiness. Without doubt, it is one of the most distressing and disturbing cases I have had to deal with,”
said Mark Wall, the judge who sentenced Tustin and Hughes to life imprisonment last week.
