UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has voiced his support for strengthening laws so child killers are never released from prison.
The call for stronger sentences comes in the wake of the trial against 29-year-old Thomas Hughes and 32-year-old Emma Tustin, who were both found guilty for the respective roles they played in the death of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.
Arthur lived with dad Hughes and stepmom Tustin, along with her two other young children. However, the young boy was subjected to months of cruelty and demeaning torture, such as beatings, being made to stand for 14 hours every day, having his possessions destroyed in front of him, and having his food poisoned with an abundance of salt.
Jurors were told of video recordings that Tustin had recorded on her phone of Arthur in distress. In some, the severely underweight boy would beg: "I want you to feed me, no one's going to feed me." In another, he can be heard saying: "No one loves me."
On June 16, 2020, Tustin inflicted an "unsurvivable head injury" on the young boy. Following his death, a total of 130 bruises were found on Arthur's body.
On the day Arthur died, it is believed Tustin made him consume a salt slurry. She then inflicted a fatal brain injury by shaking Arthur and banging his head into a hard surface. Tustin denied these claims in court, saying that Arthur's injuries were self-inflicted.
However, medical experts disagreed - saying that Arthur would have been incapable of inflicting these injuries on himself.
On Friday, Emma Tustin was jailed for 29 years for murder and child cruelty. Thomas Hughes received 21 years for manslaughter. However, BBC News reported over the weekend that the Attorney General's Office has since announced that these jail terms will be reviewed to "determine whether they were too low".
A national inquiry into Arthur's death was also launched, with the UK's education secretary Nadhim Zahawi saying how we must "identify where we must learn from this terrible case".
Following the sentencing, Arthur's grandfather told The Sun that "no punishment could ever be enough for this pair", and said that Tustin and Hughes "must never see the light of day again".
Speaking about the publication's 'Justice For Arthur' campaign, PM Johnson told The Sun: "Anyone who plans then carries out the murder of a child should never be released from prison. So we’re toughening the law to make whole-life orders the starting point for such abhorrent crimes."
The law to see people put behind bars for life for such crimes is currently being referred to as 'Arthur's Law', as people continue to call for justice for the young boy.
Johnson has also added: "The Attorney General is also urgently considering the facts of this case and the sentence handed down, but this is a Government that will always legislate for the toughest possible sentences for such repugnant crimes."