Reports Emma Tustin was hospitalised after inmates force fed her salt are not true
What was claimed
Emma Tustin, convicted of the murder of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, has been hospitalised after inmates forced her to eat 79 packets of salt.
Our verdict
Sodexo, which runs the prison where Tustin is serving her sentence, says there is no truth to the claim.
A Facebook post from 7 December claims that Emma Tustin, who murdered six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, has been sent to hospital after inmates forced her to eat “79 packets of salt”.
Ms Tustin, who was found guilty of murder and child cruelty charges in December 2021, is now imprisoned in HMP Peterborough where she was also held on remand ahead of her trial.
During the trial it was alleged that six-year-old Arthur was force fed salt-laced meals, among a series of cruelties inflicted by Ms Tustin and Arthur’s father Thomas Hughes.
Some reports stated Ms Tustin had salt thrown at her while held on remand, while reports say her former cellmate claimed inmates over-salted Ms Tustin’s food.
Join 74,000 newsletter subscribers who trust us to check the facts
Sign up to get weekly updates on politics, immigration, health and more.
Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from Full Fact for updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce, so you will also get occasional emails about fundraising and other ways you can help. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy.
However, Sodexo (which runs HMP Peterborough) told Full Fact “the claims are not true and the prisoner has not been taken to hospital.”
The Ministry of Justice also said it had not received any information to suggest it was true.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because there’s no evidence she’s been force fed salt and hospitalised.
Was this helpful?
Full Fact fights for good, reliable information in the media, online, and in politics.