Such failings need to be exposed. But they should not distract us from the fact that, during the period Arthur was being tortured, all of society – the vital network of noticing that should have protected him – was shut down. What role did lockdown play in that little boy’s death and how many other nameless children have suffered because of it? When he was finally taken to hospital with an irrecoverable injury (Tustin claimed he had banged his own head on the floor), Arthur had 130 injuries on his body. As a heartbreaking headline in this newspaper put it: “A bruise for every day of lockdown.”

In no particular order, here are the people I would summon to take the stand in the case of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes:  

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies

According to a SAGE document of April 2020, it was already known that 94 per cent of vulnerable kids were not in school. The Government was fully aware of the risks to that group during lockdown and although at-risk children were permitted to attend school, it was not mandatory.

Most of the document is concerned with children as likely vectors of disease for adults. You have to scroll right to the bottom to find a section entitled, “The Wider Impact of School Closures on Children”. It notes that a Department of Education report found that the risk to vulnerable children’s welfare “has increased significantly as a result of school closures. The risk of harm and abuse in the home is likely to be higher due to isolation.” You don’t say!

The SAGE report ends with a series of questions: “Where are these children? How are they being supported, and importantly, safeguarded?” The answer was: nobody had a clue.

Gavin Williamson and the Department of Education

Why was school attendance not made mandatory for vulnerable children? Why did the Secretary of State repeatedly cave in to pressure from teaching unions to shut schools? Why were British schools closed for longer than those in any other European country except Italy, when officials knew what a crucial lifeline teachers are for pupils who live in fear at home? Before lockdown, Arthur was receiving good support from the safeguarding lead at Dickens Heath Community primary school. If she had seen the deterioration in him since he moved in with his father and stepmother, she would likely have raised the alarm immediately.

There were almost 10,000 fewer safeguarding referrals in March 2020 compared to that month the previous year. The Department of  Education observed that the dramatic reduction was “driven by a fall in referrals from schools”. As if they had nothing to do with it.

The National Education Union

Throughout the pandemic, joint general secretaries Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney helped keep schools closed. They put the interests of their teacher members – who weren’t at higher risk from severe Covid or hospitalisation than any other profession – above the welfare of pupils, causing untold mental and physical harm to children. 

Independent Sage

On June 1 2020, the Left-wing scientists’ pressure group published an interim report, following a public session with Mumsnet, saying it was “still too soon” to open schools. In fact, for many children it was far too late. Arthur died on June 16. Experts said his injuries “met the definition of child torture”.

Essentially, and there is no palatable way of putting this, Arthur and thousands of children like him were left to take their chances. It was alright for them to be at risk so long as the more important risk – of spreading Covid to vulnerable adults – was supposedly contained. According to Robert Halfon, one of the very few MPs to champion the young throughout, there are still tens of thousands of  “ghost children” who are at risk of abuse after failing to return to school following the lockdowns. Let that sink in; up to 100,000 kids have fallen off the radar. Are they dead or alive? 

A few days ago, I popped a card round to a friend whose lockdown baby just turned one. Like all infants, Freddie was due to be seen by a health visitor for a regular health and development check. But, as I was astonished to discover in this case, that health visitors are still working remotely. Freddie’s check was carried out over the phone. His mum, Becky, was not impressed. “You know, Alli, no one official has seen Fred since he was three days old. I mean, a mum could be lying to the health visitor on the phone, couldn’t she? She could be hurting her baby, not feeding him properly or anything and how would they know?”

Becky, a 38-year-old mother of three small children, can spot this potentially fatal flaw in the system of child health and developmental reviews but the brilliant fellows at the Department of Health are seemingly unaware of it. Or, maybe, they know that some health visitors still aren’t checking infants in person and are crossing their fingers and praying that no baby is starved or tortured to death. At which point, you can guarantee that the politicians and the medical experts will express horror that such a thing should have been allowed to happen. They will promise that systems will be reviewed and, yes, lessons will be learned.

The lesson I would very much like this Government to learn would be taken on board before another child dies. The lesson is to stop prioritising Covid, which we must live with now, and to start putting resources into tracking down those haunting  “ghost children”.

If schools had been open during lockdown would Arthur Labinjo-Hughes be alive today? I believe that he would. By shutting down society and banning family interaction, it meant the small boy was left at the mercy of malevolent adults who felt they could do as they pleased with him.

The Prime Minister has talked about introducing Arthur’s Law that would see anyone who plans then carries out the murder of a child sent to prison indefinitely. While I would gladly see Tustin and Hughes rot in jail, there are better laws to commemorate him.

Let’s have an Arthur’s Law against a lockdown ever being imposed again. Children paid too high a price for staying at home and “safe”.  We won’t know the final bill for decades.

“A mouse went into a deep dark wood…”  It makes me weep to think there would be no happy ending for that sweet boy who loved to read and be read to. All we can do is not give the monsters a chance to prey on children next time.