Report due into Solihull's safeguarding services after Arthur Labinjo-Hughes death
The six year old was killed at the hands of his dad and step-mum
Last updated 21st Feb 2022
After the tragic death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, a report is due out today (21st Feb) into Solihull's safeguarding services for children.
Solihull’s Local Safeguarding Children Partnership will receive the findings from the recent Joint Targeted Area Inspection. It comes after questions were raised about what more could have been done by local services to protect him from those who were supposed to care for him.
The inspection was not about the circumstances of the six year old's death, that is being dealt with by a National Panel Review ordered by the Secretary of State for Education, but a focus on how organisations in Solihull work together to prevent harm to children and young people in the area.
The six year old suffered months of abuse by his dad and step-mum before he was brutally murdered by Emma Tustin at his home in Shirley. He suffered an "unsurvivable brain injury" when his head was "banged repeatedly against a hard surface" before he died in hospital the following day on the 17th June, 2020.
During their trial last year the court heard how there were 'no safeguarding' concerns in the weeks before his death, despite multiple calls to local services and police from other members of the family.
Arthur's grandmother said she passed on her concerns to social services at Solihull Council two months before he died after taking photos of bruises on his back.
In a statement before the report is published today, Solihull Council says; "None of us, either here in Solihull or across the nation, can be anything but appalled and shocked by Arthur’s murder. Rather than wait for these reports we have already set up an Improvement Board and recruited an independent chair, renowned educationalist Penny Thompson CBE, to begin the work of improving safeguarding in the borough.
"This Board will support, oversee, and importantly challenge partner organisations with responsibility for safeguarding children, on their progress in delivering an updated Improvement Plan.
"We can now get on with the important work of learning and responding to the findings of the inspection and the National Panel Review."