Reprehensible louts have 'deliberately' vandalised a memorial yards from where little Arthur Labinjo-Hughes was abused and killed.
The tragic six-year-old was murdered by his twisted Emma Tustin in 2020, while his sick dad Thomas Hughes was convicted of the boy's manslaughter.
At the hands of his father and stepmother, Arthur was physically assaulted, poisoned and dehumanised over a number of months during lockdown.
A shrine was set-up near his home in Shirley, Solihull, but family members and friends were horrified to discover mindless yobs had damaged their special place.
Arthur's cousin Bernie Dixon, who set up a charity in Arthur's name, said she believed a newly-planted tree had been "deliberately" snapped, BirminghamLive reports.
It comes as the family said local youngsters have been protecting the tribute.
"Someone has removed one of the bushes that was planted and has snapped it," she said.
"It's so sad an individual feels that those actions are suitable after everything Arthur endured. It’s beyond disrespectful to him.
"I hope whomever it was had great satisfaction in doing something so cruel. With this recent action no more trees or bushes will be planted."
She added: "I can’t understand why they would deliberately pull it out to snap it. The young people around there have been so good. In fact they have protected it at times so it’s really odd and sad.
"It’s a new plant. They dug it up and snapped it. I would accept it if they stole it but to just destroy it is silly."
Arthur suffered an unsurvivable brain injury while in the sole care of Tustin, who was jailed for life with a minimum term of 29 years after assaulting him on June 16, 2020.
He was "subjected to the most unimaginable suffering".
Heartbreakingly, Arthur was subjected to “incomprehensible and escalating cruelty” in the weeks up to his death, including being poisoned with salt-laced drinks and food.
Tustin, although admitting two counts of child cruelty, continuously claimed that Arthur was badly behaved and aggressive, and said his fatal injury was self-inflicted.
By the time he died, he had more than 130 injuries on his body.
His murder looked set to spark real change with Government plans promising to "transform" children's social care.
Backed by £200 million over the next two years, the Department for Education said a 'Children’s Social Care Implementation Strategy' would focus on early support for struggling families and "reduce the need for crisis response at a later stage".
