Arthur Labinjo-Hughes: Step-mum and dad relax in hot tub during campaign of torture

Emma Tustin and Thomas Hughes have been pictured relaxing in a hot tub just weeks before killing Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.

During the heat wave of Spring 2020 the couple, who have now been jailed over the death of the young lad, bought the tub.

They kicked back in it amid the sweltering heat, while Arthur was forced to stand inside for hours as a punishment while wearing a fluffy onesie.

Tustin, who has been sent to prison for at least 29 years after being found guilty of murder, posted a snap to Instagram of her and Hughes smiling broadly in the steamy water six weeks before she killed Arthur.

Around the same time as the pair were kicking back, Arthur was being subject to cruel emotional and physical abuse.

Arthur with his dad Thomas Hughes, who was convicted of manslaughter (BPM Media)

Tustin and Hughes - now locked up for at least 21 years for manslaughter - exchanged messages about the defenceless boy.

At one point the step-mum sent her partner an audio clip of the six-year-old crying along with a text message reading: "P***ed me off he has. Paused Corrie."

Hughes replied: "Kid is a selfish little c*** I'll dash my food off his head."

Arthur then spent a further 11 hours and 49 minutes in the hallway on June 13, a trial into Arthur's death at Coventry Crown Court heard.

The jury was shown CCTV from the home of the couple in which they are seen eating ice cream cones as well as sitting in the hot tub.

Earlier that day, Tustin allegedly texted Hughes accusing Arthur of "making my life hell" and claiming she was "slowly but surely cracking".

Today Peter Halcrow, Arthur's maternal grandfather, said warnings that were issued by the little boy's other grandparents were missed.

Arthur was just six when he lost his life (BPM MEDIA)

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "They're decent people and they were very concerned. And they issued warnings that were ignored, shall we say."

As for the couple responsible for his death, Mr Halcrow said they had committed a "heinous crime" by killing a "defenceless, innocent boy".

Mr Halcrow told the broadcaster: "I wouldn't give them the time of day and I wouldn't want them to see the light of day ever again."

Arthur was left with an un-survivable brain injury while in the sole care of "evil" Tustin.

She was convicted of murder by assaulting defenceless Arthur in the hallway of her Cranmore Road home in Solihull, on June 16 2020.

Arthur, whose body was covered in 130 bruises, died in hospital the next day.