False: Thomas Hughes, the killer of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, has been attacked in prison.

By: Pallavi Sethi
December 8 2021

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The Ministry of Justice denied all reports of a physical assault on Thomas Hughes behind bars. A Facebook post with over 12.6M views falsely claims that Thomas Hughes, the 29-year-old father of the late Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, was assaulted in prison. Hughes has been sentenced for manslaughter over the death of his son Arthur Labinjo-Hughes. Birmingham Live reported that the Ministry of Justice denied any assault had taken place. On December 3, 2021, Thomas Hughes and his partner, Emma Tustin, were found guilty of killing and torturing Hughes's son Arthur Labinjo-Hughes. Arthur was in the sole care of Tustin when she poisoned and beat him to death. According to SkyNews, she repeatedly banged Arthur's head against the hallway wall and sent a photograph of the unconscious boy to Thomas Hughes. The Coventry Crown Court sentenced Tustin to a minimum of 29 years and Hughes for 21 years in prison. According to the BBC, Justice Mark Wall QC found the case "one of the most distressing and disturbing" cases of his life. Days after Hughes's sentencing, a blog post claimed that he was "beaten up and left in a critical condition" in prison. Birghimam Live debunked the claim and stated that a spokesperson called the incident a rumor. In addition, the spokesperson said there was "no suggestion" of a physical assault on Hughes. Soon after the claim appeared on a blog, it started doing the rounds on Facebook. Logically found a Facebook page falsely stating that British rapper Jordan McCann attacked Thomas Hughes. The post had over 3K shares and 250 comments. In addition, the page posted an unverified link to support the unfounded story. In September 2021, another false claim surfaced that Jordan McCann had taken his own life in prison. Reuters reported on the story to disprove the claim.