An MP has called for the 'lenient' sentences given to the couple who killed six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes to be reviewed.
Emma Tustin, 32, was told she must serve a minimum of 29 years in prison after being found guilty of the murder of Arthur, while his father Thomas Hughes, was told he must serve a minimum of 21 years for manslaughter.
Hughes had moved in with his son to Tustin’s home, in Solihull, at the start of the Covid lockdown in March 2020.
Soon afterwards, Arthur was subjected to a regime of cruelty and abuse that ultimately led to his death on June 17 that year after Tustin inflicted fatal head injuries and poisoned him with salt.
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Solihull MP Julian Knight said he plans to lobby for longer jail terms for the 'horrible monsters'.
In a video posted on Twitter on Saturday, Mr Knight said he was standing in Cranmore Road in Solihull, close to Tustin's former home where Arthur was tortured and died in June 2020.
He said there was a 'real sense of palpable loss' over his death, and also 'a sense of anger and questions how this was allowed to happen, how these horrible monsters were allowed to inflict this horrible torture on this young defenceless boy'.
The MP added the sentences were 'too lenient' and said he intended to refer the case to the unduly lenient sentencing scheme as 'soon as possible'.
The Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme allows anyone to lobby the Attorney General to refer a case to the Court of Appeal for review.
Senior judges then consider the jail term and how it compares to any relevant guidelines on sentencing and similar cases.
Video played during the trial showed Arthur just before he died struggling to pick up his pillow and blanket because he was so weak and crying out that nobody loved him.
After his death, he was found to have 130 injuries.
Solihull’s Local Child Safeguarding Partnership launched an independent review after it emerged in court the boy had been seen by social workers just two months before his death, but they concluded there were 'no safeguarding concerns'.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday said ministers will leave 'absolutely no stone unturned' to establish what went wrong in the 'appalling' case.
Speaking during a by-election campaign visit in north Shropshire, Mr Johnson said: "It is early days, but I can tell you this, we will leave absolutely no stone unturned to find out exactly what went wrong in that appalling case."
