Thomas Hughes told police how he 'cut up' son Arthur's beloved Birmingham FC ...

A bullying father accused of murdering his six-year-old son in a 'campaign of cruelty' told police he will be remembered as the 'dad who killed his son'.

Thomas Hughes, 29, told police he was 'accountable' for the death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, whom he allegedly killed with his new partner Emma Tustin, 32, a court heard. 

The couple are said to have subjected Arthur to systematic abuse 'designed to terrorise' the youngster. 

Arthur was allegedly deprived of food, made to stand in a hallway for 14 hours a day and poisoned with salt before being fatally attacked at Tustin's home near Solihull, West Mids, last June. 

Prosecutors allege Arthur was subjected to months of cruelty by Hughes and Tustin which matched the 'medical definition of child torture'. The pair deny murder and multiple counts of child cruelty. 

During police interviews, Hughes revealed how Arthur had spent much of his waking hours during lockdown in 'isolation' and admitted to police: 'I'll be honest. Now, I've had a taste of it, it was the same as prison. It wasn't nice and it was wrong.' 

In transcripts read out to jurors at Coventry Crown Court, Hughes said: 'From lockdown up until his death. He spent more of his time in isolation.

'I can't remember the time he was treated like a normal child by myself. I can't remember the last time he was allowed to sit in and watch TV.' 

Without the presence of a solicitor, Hughes revealed how he slapped Arthur for interrupting his fish and chips and slashed his favourite football shirt. 

He told how he sent text messages telling Tustin to 'bounce' Arthur's head and 'kill him', and said he put in 'punishment' rules that would see his son confined to the hallway from 'nearly the time he would get up, to bed time'.