Woman accused of murdering stepson, six, denies poisoning him with salt after ...

A woman accused of murdering her six-year-old stepson by poisoning him with salt in a brutal 'campaign of cruelty' told a jury she was threatened into silence by his 'bullying' father. 

Emma Tustin, 32, said she was 'scared' by the behaviour of Thomas Hughes, 29, in the weeks before Arthur Labinjo-Hughes died from fatal head injuries. 

The pair allegedly subjected the boy to 'systematic, cruel behaviour', including poisoning him and forcing him to stand on a hallway step for 14 hours a day.

Prosecutors say the alleged abuse met the 'medical definition of child torture'. 

Hughes and Tustin deny murder and multiple counts of child cruelty.

Arthur was ordered to sleep on the floor and 'deprived of basic living comforts' after moving into Tustin's home during the first pandemic lockdown last March, it is claimed. 

He died in June 2020 from 'unsurvivable brain injuries', while in Tustin's care. 

Giving evidence, the mother-of-two told jurors how she watched Hughes 'constantly' smack Arthur, and that she saw him headbutt the youngster and pin him against a door. 

Tustin claimed that when she confronted Hughes over the alleged abuse, he threatened to report her to social services. 

Describing the living environment of her council house near Solihull, West Midlands, Tustin said: 'There was shouting, there was attitude and then there was the violence that I had seen that Tom had done to Arthur. 

'I didn't want to be there, I didn't want to be in the house. To be honest, I don't think I wanted to be alive.

'It started in April; it was the smacking on the legs. In May, it was horrendous. It was the worst it had become. 

'I said that I disagreed with it and it wasn't the way to go and he told me to mind my own business.

'After that I said I was going to report him to social services. He said to me he would tell Arthur to lie and social services would take my own kids from me and because of my mental health issues he would tell them I was unstable. 

'I was scared. And it stopped me in my tracks because I didn't want to risk losing my children. 

'I didn't want social services to think I was unstable or unable to look after them. The thought of losing them - I just ignored what he was doing.' 

Arthur had been in the full-time care of Hughes after his mother Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow was accused of killing her new partner, Gary Cunningham, in February 2019. 

Hughes and Tustin met online and he moved into her home with Arthur when the country entered lockdown. 

The pair are said to have subjected Arthur to 'violence and intimidation' in 'brutal controlling circumstances'. 

Tustin said Hughes 'rammed' Arthur on the front door, gave him a dead leg and stood on his stomach. 

Of one alleged incident, she said: 'Arthur was screaming and Tom shouted at him. He said "if you don't shut your f****** mouth I'm going to throw you out the window". 

'Arthur said "no daddy, not the window".' 

Tustin was confronted over text messages she sent to Hughes where she called Arthur 'Satan', a 'nagging little s***', and other 'unpleasant names'. 

She told the jury at Coventry Crown Court: 'I would tell him to shut up and call him a f***** liar. But things I said in text messages, they were vile.' 

Asked why she sent a smiling emoji in response to a picture of a Taser gun sent by Hughes with the caption 'gonna thwack him', Tustin said: 'Because I didn't know what to say. I just felt sick.' 

In one message, Hughes threatened to 'take his jaw off his shoulders' and told Tustin: 'Just gag him or something. Tie some rope around his mouth with a sock in it or something.' 

She denied ever acting on those instructions. 

Earlier the trial heard that Arthur was poisoned with so much salt that medics questioned their machinery when he was admitted to hospital with fatal brain injuries on June 16 last year.