BBC News defends decision to use ‘harrowing’ tapes of murdered 6-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes after complaints

Arthur Labinjo-Hughes was killed by his stepmum (Picture: PA)

BBC News has defended its decision to use ‘harrowing’ tapes of murdered six-year-old of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.

Arthur was killed by his father Thomas Hughes and stepmother Emma Tustin, in June 2020 after being subjected to ‘sadistic’ and ‘appalling’ cruelty.

Tustin was jailed for life earlier this month with a minimum term of 29 years assaulting defenceless Arthur in the hallway of her Cranmore Road home in Solihull, on June 16, 2020.

The boy, whose body was also covered in 130 bruises, died in hospital the next day.

BBC News confirmed it had received complaints from people who found the video and audio recordings used in its coverage of Arthur’s death upsetting and felt these were unnecessary to include.

In one distressing clip, Arthur was seen crying ‘nobody loves me’ and struggling to carry a duvet hours.

Distressing footage and audio of Arthur aired on BBC News (Picture: PA)

‘@BBC absolutely terrible reporting of the abuse & death of Arthur on the 6o’clock news,’ slammed one. ‘Why, when you reported on an earlier broadcast a still of Arthur the day he died, did you feel it necessary to show the video of it and then air a clip of him crying and obviously distressed?’

Another hit out: ‘Turned on BBC news to hear the harrowing tapes of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes. Reporting Arthur’s tragic and terribly cruel death is one thing, but hearing that poor child’s desperate cries on TV just seems wrong.’

Responding to the complaints, a BBC spokesperson said: ‘The murder of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, and the abuse he was subjected to prior to his death, are crimes of imaginable horror, and we fully appreciate that many of the details related to this case would be upsetting to our audience.

Emma Tustin was jailed for life earlier this month with a minimum term of 29 years (Picture: PA)

Arthur’s father Thomas Hughes was jailed for 21 years (Picture: PA)

‘We took careful consideration as to the information included in our coverage, and gave warnings prior to our reports as to the distressing information they contained.  We realise that this story would have particular resonance with some of our viewers which is why we signposted the BBC Action Line website in certain programmes.

‘The audio clips and video files included in our coverage were played during the trial as evidence;  we understand that these were harrowing, but we believe they were necessary to fully and accurately reflect the circumstances involved.’

The BBC said that the content was only used in the immediate aftermath of the verdict and that it would only use it again in the future in exceptional circumstances. 

‘The tragic nature of this case meant that there were hundreds of other video and audio recordings played in court which were far more disturbing than anything used in our reports,’ the spokesperson continued.

‘As we reflected, the details heard during the trial had a profound effect on those present, including our experienced correspondents.

More: BBC

‘We were mindful at all times during our coverage of this story to report with sensitivity.  We sought to offer detailed analysis of the wider implications of the issues raised by this case, and to reflect on Arthur’s life, as well as the devastating details concerning his death.’

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