Arthur Labinjo-Hughes’s death and the problem of evil

Since I first read about the torture and murder of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, I’ve had what feels like an A-level philosophy class running in my head. There are still those of us who believe in God, and are preparing to celebrate the birth of His son in a week or so. But how is it possible to square the existence of a good and omni-potent God with what happened to Arthur, and to the other children who suffer in the same way?

Every year in this country, there are 50 or so children dead from abuse. Year in, year out, lockdown or not, that figure stays roughly the same. Is this original sin at work? Is it just the price we pay for free choice? If so, the price is too high. And anyway, what sort of freedom do violent addicts of the sort who surrounded Arthur actually have? You get the picture. It’s like an agonised Alpha course in here. I thought I’d long since got the problem of evil covered, but it turns out it’s just been lying dormant like a virus, waiting to reactivate.

My first mistake was probably to start reading about the case in the first place — though who could miss it now? I’m in two minds as to whether we have a duty to face these things, or whether we have a duty not to, for fear of rubber-necking. But I did start following it, months ago, and once you start pulling at the thread of a story like this, it’s impossible to stop. You need to know how such a thing could possibly come to pass and what humans are capable of.

Arthur was killed last year in lockdown by his father’s girlfriend, Emma Tustin, who tortured him, and persuaded his father to torture him, in ways I won’t relate.