Arthur Labinjo-Hughes's murder is a reminder we need to look out for children at risk from their parents – Hayley Matthews

I watched the recent news reports about little Arthur’s death and what he endured in his final months, all in absolute horror.

Football fans took part in a minute's applause on the sixth minute of Premier League games in memory of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes (Picture: Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

It stopped me in my tracks. That sinking feeling of knowing an innocent child has gone without the basics like love, food, water and safety is heartbreaking. To know he was purposely poisoned and killed makes it unbearable.

However, the worst thing is that it could have, more than likely, been prevented.

If you don't know about Arthur, he was a precious, innocent little soul whose name joined those of other children who were neglected and abuse, and now sadly are in heaven. It's one more name too many and something needs to change – now.

Ultimately, I hold the parents responsible. However, when there have been numerous warnings to the authorities, such as in the Baby P case, then heads should roll if there have been any failings by social services.

Here we find ourselves again, pointing the finger at each other whilst an innocent child died at the hands of the parents/guardians after spilling through the safety net of social services.

Looking for answers, I ventured down a rabbit hole as I read about high-profile cases such as Victoria Climbie, Baby P, Khyra Ishaq and Daniel Pelka. All had been purposefully abused and neglected by a special kind of evil I hope I never meet.

Every single one of these cases involved deceitful, evil parents/guardians who manipulated situations and were able to evade the attentions of child protection services to a significant degree.

But how? How did Arthur's stepmother and father get away with manipulating and deceiving those doing the checks? How has this happened again?!

I know many will be blaming lockdown as child protection services have seen a huge increase in calls and, yes, many families struggled to cope, but don't take it out on your innocent children who depend on you.

We'll now see another independent inquiry to decide whether or not the authorities could have done more for a child. Reading that Arthur weighed just a stone-and-a-half when he passed away left me feeling outraged. How anyone could inflict such pain and damage on their own child is more than unimaginable?

After hours of reading and looking to find who's to blame, I believe we all need to take a responsibility in the welfare of the children around us, and not just for our own children. All children. Who cares if you're coined a busy body, if a child seems in danger then do something! It's all of our responsibility.

The responsibility to raise a healthy happy child ultimately lies with the parents and guardians, but when a child gives any indication of needing help they should be heard and taken seriously. We all have a responsibility to speak up if we think a child may be at risk.

A friend once said to be a pilot, brain surgeon etc you need to study for years, yet the most precious, important and privileged job of all, which takes more skill and brains than all the above put together, is to bring a child in to the world and “any idiot can do that!”

So let's keep an eye out for those poor kids being raised by evil idiots!

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